The recent Daily News 2000 race meeting marked the first time South African horseplayers were able to bet into Hong Kong’s mega tote pools on a race meeting in this country and the turnover generated in just a few hours was astonishing.
The Hong Kong Jockey Club classified the 29 May Daily News 2000 meeting as a World Pool event, resulting in punters in Hong Kong being able to take the normal range of Hong Kong tote bets on races two to nine.
Four South African tote pools on the same races were commingled into Hong Kong pools – Win, Place, Swinger and Quinella – with local TAB pools on all other bet types.
Total gross turnover on the eight races was R486 million, comprising R405 million bet by Hong Kong punters with South Africa and other international sources contributing R81 million.
The amount bet must be viewed against the background that it was a stand-alone televised event in Hong Kong and took place in a timeframe from 18:25 to 22:35 in the Far East.
The average pool totals on the four commingled bet types are striking to say the least. Win pools averaged R9.4 million gross, Place pools R10.1 million and the Swinger (Quinella Place in Hong Kong) R13.5 million.
The Quinella (first two any order and the equivalent of the Dupla that was once offered in South Africa) was by far the most popular bet on the meeting with eight pools averaging R15.1 million gross.
Lance Smith, who manages Tellytrack and Phumelela’s international operations, said: “Betting into pools of that size on local races was a first for South African punters and the horseracing industry in this country earned a substantial commission from the undertaking.
“The event was generally well received in Hong Kong and there’s good news ahead because the Gold Cup race meeting at the end of July will also be classified as a World Pool event by the Hong Kong Jockey Club,” continued Smith. “But there are issues to be resolved before then including the length of time taken to declare official results.”
A full breakdown of the tote betting on the eight races is below (four commingled bet types highlighted in yellow). Please note these are gross pools.
| Bet Type | Race 2 | Race 3 | Race 4 | Race 5 | |
| Win | R 5 563 659 | R 9 114 119 | R 9 397 854 | R 10 348 854 | |
| Place | R 7 103 578 | R 7 958 481 | R 8 853 368 | R 9 699 499 | |
| Quinella | R 9 932 640 | R 13 058 479 | R 13 832 424 | R 14 388 063 | |
| Swinger | R 11 683 397 | R 13 744 700 | R 15 521 431 | R 14 944 776 | |
| Forecast/Trio | R 2 689 832 | R 3 145 159 | R 3 720 257 | R 3 275 691 | |
| Tierce | R 1 630 903 | R 2 098 889 | R 2 525 565 | R 2 180 767 | |
| Quartet | R 3 145 851 | R 3 469 156 | R 4 520 222 | R 4 002 811 | |
| Double Trio | R 0 | R 1 208 252 | R 0 | R 0 | |
| Treble | R 0 | R 0 | R 0 | R 0 | |
| Total | R 41 749 859 | R 53 797 235 | R 58 371 122 | R 58 840 460 | |
| Bet Type | Race 6 | Race 7 | Race 8 | Race 9 | Total Races 2-9 |
| Win | R 10 920 819 | R 12 041 487 | R 10 121 757 | R 11 186 639 | R 78 695 188 |
| Place | R 11 451 597 | R 11 907 317 | R 12 063 327 | R 11 721 029 | R 80 758 197 |
| Quinella | R 13 554 441 | R 18 733 425 | R 18 840 262 | R 18 318 314 | R 120 658 049 |
| Swinger | R 0 | R 17 468 942 | R 18 465 394 | R 16 267 383 | R 108 096 022 |
| Forecast/Trio | R 5 438 721 | R 5 090 007 | R 4 601 288 | R 4 759 856 | R 32 720 811 |
| Tierce | R 4 480 396 | R 3 677 901 | R 2 709 590 | R 3 178 642 | R 22 482 653 |
| Quartet | R 5 674 870 | R 6 613 092 | R 5 308 272 | R 5 088 982 | R 37 823 256 |
| Double Trio | R 1 517 132 | R 0 | R 0 | R 0 | R 2 725 384 |
| Treble | R 0 | R 2 129 935 | R 0 | R 0 | R 2 129 935 |
| Total | R 53 037 976 | R 77 662 106 | R 72 109 892 | R 70 520 844 | R 486 089 494 |
