The Singapore Turf Club is the only legal horse racing club to exist in Singapore. It is also the oldest existing club in the country and is most known for all of its steeplechase events. This horse racing club was founded on October 4, 1842, by William Henry Macleod Read which was called the Singapore Sporting Club.
What is the Singapore Turf Club?
The Singapore Turf Club horse race events are being held at the Kranju Racecourse every Friday, Sunday, and selected public holidays. The event welcomes all horse race enthusiasts as well as sports bettors and their Singapore race card.
Obviously, guests need to be at least 18 years old or above in order to be permitted to enter the premises of the event. It’s similar to how Singapore Pool does not allow minors from participating in any gambling activities.
That said, Only Singaporepools and Singapore Turf Club are the only governing bodies in the country that are legally allowed to conduct and offer betting services to the public. Additionally, they are under the proprietary club of the Singapore Tote Board who also manages funds that come from these services.
The early history of Singapore Turf Club
As mentioned earlier, Singapore Turf Club was formerly known as the Singapore Sporting Club when it was first established in 1842. Its first grandstand and racing track was built at Farrer Park. The first-ever race that took place on the racetrack was in February 1843.
Looking at the numbers, the race track measured a total of 75.9 meters. The prize pool for the horse race event was $150 which attracted hundreds of participants from all over the world including Americans, Jews, British, Germans, and more. The event was called the Singapore Cup.
The first twenty years since the club opened were largely filled with amateurs. There were lots of members from the Malayan Royalty and participants who committed to getting their race card and started to take training and breeding very seriously; bringing a whole slew of new horse breeds.
From time to time, the SSC Committee allows club members to play golf and polo on the racecourse as long as they do not interfere with any of the actual races or training.
Becoming the Singapore Turf Club
The Singapore Sporting Club was rebranded as Singapore Turf Club in 1924 to better reflect the racing aspects that the club is most known for. Over the years, the racecourse is starting to become inevitably insufficient as horse racing is becoming bigger and bigger.
They sold the racetrack for over a million and a half dollars to the Singapore Improvement Trust. The Singapore Turf Club then purchased a 244-acre of land at Bukit Timah for $850,000 to better accommodate the increasing demand of the horse racing niche in the country.
The new racetrack consists of three stories with a total of 2,000 teak armchairs for spectators. The whole racecourse was designed and built with a total cost of $3 million, completely modernizing the look of the entire facility. From the initial capacity of 250 horses, it has been expanded to accommodate over 700+ horses.
In 1993, the club had to move to a new location. They made a $500-million purchase of the new Kranji Racecourse which started development in 1996. In March of 2000, the racetrack was opened and the opening race held there was the SIA International Cup.
From there, plenty of horse racing events are being held in the Kranji racetrack. This includes the Singapore Gold Cup, Singapore Derby, Lion City Cup, and the Raffles Cup. These are just some of the main highlights for many Singapore Turf Club and Singapore Pools fans that they can look forward to all the time.