Greater than 180 years of horse racing in Singapore is ready to finish in 2024 when the city-state’s solely racecourse will shut and be redeveloped for housing.
The Singapore Turf Membership (STC) in Kranji will maintain its last race assembly, the one hundredth Grand Singapore Gold Cup, on October 5, 2024 and stop operations in March 2027, handing over the 120-hectare web site to the federal government.
The membership was based by Scottish service provider William Henry Macleod Learn in 1842 and positioned at Farrer Park in central Singapore.
It moved to a bigger venue, Bukit Timah within the western a part of the island, as the game grew in recognition.
In 1999, the STC relocated to Kranji in northwestern Singapore. The present racecourse has a five-storey grandstand with capability for 30,000 spectators.
“We’re saddened by the choice of the federal government to shut the membership,” STC chairman Niam Chiang Meng mentioned in an announcement on Monday.
“On the similar time, we perceive the land wants of Singapore, together with housing and different potential makes use of akin to leisure and recreation.
“We’re aligned with the federal government on the necessity to put money into the way forward for Singapore.”
Attendances on the racecourse have been declining over the previous decade, the STC mentioned.
Racehorse homeowners and trainers might be supplied assist for horse upkeep and exportation.
In line with the Straits Occasions newspaper there are about 700 racehorses on the membership and 38 livery horses, that are for private use.
The racecourse web site might be used for housing, together with public housing, the federal government mentioned.
Different potential makes use of together with leisure and recreation are additionally being thought-about.
“Singapore is a city-state with restricted land,” the Ministry of Nationwide Growth and the Ministry of Finance mentioned in a joint assertion.
“The federal government frequently evaluations its land use plans to satisfy at this time’s wants whereas making certain there’s enough land for future generations.”
-Reuters