Horse racing ends in Singapore

Singapore held its final horse race on Saturday, ending 180 years of the sport to make way for more housing. The government is razing about 300 acres of the Singapore Turf Club to build homes for the island’s burgeoning population, Bloomberg reported.

Horse racing has declined in some parts of Asia due to a lack of interest from younger people and post-pandemic financial struggles: Macau also terminated the sport this year. But horse racing has thrived in Hong Kong, where it saw a record turnover of $39 billion in 2022-2023. Thanks in part to its charitable contributions to the public housing sector, the Hong Kong Jockey Club — the city’s top taxpayer — “appears poised to survive for decades,” Nikkei Asia wrote.