Punters around the world splashed R650m on Cape Town Met

An astounding R650 million was bet with the Hong Kong Jockey Club tote on eight of the 12 races at the 2022 World Sports Betting Cape Town Met race meeting at Kenilworth last Saturday.

Cape Town’s premier race day was the first HKJC World Pool event of the year and Races 4 to 11 were televised live in Hong Kong. TAB Win, Place, Swinger and Quinella pools on these races were commingled into the Hong Kong pools, thus affording local horseracing fans the rare opportunity of betting into the world’s biggest tote pools on South African races.

Total gross turnover on the World Pool races was R650.73 million, the fourth-highest total accomplished by a World Pool event to date.

Predictably, the WSB Cape Town Met achieved the highest turnover of the eight races with a total of R97.8 million. Less predictable was that this figure was nearly bettered by Race 11, an ordinary merit-rated handicap which was run after midnight Hong Kong time and generated gross turnover of R95.4 million.

The Quinella (first two any order) and Swinger (Quinella Place) were the most popular bet types again. Quinella pools averaged R20.5 million and Swingers R19.4 million. The biggest single pool was the Quinella on Race 11, which generated more than R26 million.

“South African racing resonates well with customers in Hong Kong and many racing fans globally, and that popularity made the Met day an ideal meeting to include as part of our strategically important World Pool brand hosted in Hong Kong”, said Richard Cheung, executive director of the Hong Kong Jockey Club.

Kenilworth Racing chairperson Bradley Ralph said the sold-out 2022 World Sports Betting Cape Town Met was “a spectacular day that provided a boost for industry stakeholders and Cape Racing alike”.

“There was an amazing turnout of horse racing fans who were part of the 2022 World Sports Betting Cape Town Met. There was a buzz at Kenilworth Racecourse like the years gone by and a big thanks must go to all the stakeholders and new commercial sponsors, who helped lay the platform for a fantastic racing experience, with the punter at the heart of the event.

“And to top it all off, a dream became reality with the winner being a Cape-based horse, Kommetdieding, owned by a local legend in Ashwin Reynolds, who made history in completing the coveted July-Met double,” said Ralph.

Colin Gordon, chief operating officer of 4Racing, said he was delighted that the World Sports Betting Cape Town Met had proved one of the most successful World Pool events to date.

“On behalf of the horseracing and tote betting operators in South Africa, I would like to thank the Hong Kong Jockey Club for according the World Sports Betting Cape Town Met World Pool status again. Being able to bet into the Hong Kong pools added much excitement to the occasion and assisted us in marketing the race day,” Gordon added.

Apart from the Win, Place, Swinger and Quinella on Races 4 to 11, all other tote pools on the meeting were hosted by TAB and the Pick 6, boosted by a R3-million carryover, accomplished a net pool of R14.3 million.

The pool yielded a pay out of R105,128 to 135.7 winning tickets.

TAB net turnover on the day, excluding carryovers and bets placed in Hong Kong, was R50.4 million. This represented a huge increase on last year when the event was run behind closed doors. – 4Racing