Royal Ascot tops Hong Kong world pool

With news that the new King Charles III Stakes will be run annually at Royal Randwick, it was the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes that broke the World Pool race turnover at Royal Ascot.

The inaugural $5m King Charles III Stakes will be run at The Everest Carnival on Saturday, 14 October at Royal Randwick, alongside The TAB Everest which now has risen to $20m in stakes.

Named in honour of His Majesty the King, it inherits the former George Main Stakes Group 1 status and will also be run over the same race distance of 1600m and weight-for-age conditions.

However, it was Royal Ascot’s Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes that was also renamed following the passing of Queen Elizabeth II, which was a record HK$66.2 million (£6.6m) World Pool race.

In breaking a single race turnover as a World Pool race, it eclipsed the HK$66.1m for the 2022 Epsom Derby, and both the Commonwealth Cup and Ribblesdale Stakes of HK$50.5m this year.

In fact, Saturday’s total turnover of HK$323.4m (£32.5m) rates as the third highest World Pool day of all time, behind the Friday of HK$351.8m and Saturday of HK$340.9m of Royal Ascot 2022.

The total World Pool turnover for Royal Ascot 2023 topped HK$1.5 billion (£154m), only fractionally down on last year’s total of HK$1.6 billion, which was an increase on 2021’s figure of 35%.

The World Pool is the globe’s largest commingled horse racing pools developed and run by the Hong Kong Jockey Club with Tote+ Win beating SP in 83% of the 35 races across the Royal Meeting.

The Tote offered customers value across the 35 races at Royal Ascot with the Tote+ Win beat SP in 29 of the 35 races, and matched on remaining 6 races with Tote Guarantee in place online.

The Tote+ Win overround was 106% vs SP overround of 125%, the Tote+ Exacta beat the Forecast (1-2) in 32 out of 35 races, and averaged an 85% better payout and Tote+ Trifecta beat Tricast (1-2-3) in 29 out of 32 races, paying more than double the Tricast on average

In announcing a further five year partnership with Royal Ascot and UK Tote, the Hong Kong Jockey Club have continued to promote racing as a Global Sport from the first agreement in 2019.

Since 2019 when the HKJC and Ascot Racecourse initiated the first World Pool partnership with the UK Tote, the renewal agreement was signed on Friday 23 June and will run until July 2028.

This follows from the UK Tote signing a new agreement with the HKJC at the start of the week, which sees the UK Tote become the exclusive partner for World Pool in both the UK and Ireland.

“Royal Ascot produced exceptional racing once again,” said Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges, Chief Executive Officer of the Hong Kong Jockey Club, “and it’s clear that international racing fans have embraced the quality and depth of fields across the five days.”

“World Pool offers the best international racing for customers across the globe, and in the four years since we launched World Pool at Royal Ascot, the Hong Kong Jockey Club has forged a host of World Pool partnerships around the world and we are delighted at the progress achieved so far.”

In following, Michael Fitzsimons, Executive Director of Wagering Products, at the Hong Kong Jockey Club, stated that “Royal Ascot delivered an unforgettable five days of world class sport.”

“The Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes produced a record turnover figure for a World Pool race, and we were thrilled to see Wellington take up the challenge in addition to strong representation from other countries around the world.”

“That’s what the World Pool is about, as it’s to show how successful international collaboration can be for the very best international racing around the globe, and couldn’t be happier.”