Hong Kong Racing Museum
The Racing History &
Charitable Deeds
of Hong Kong Jockey Club

Hong Kong Racing Museum is right across from the Hong Kong Jockey Club restaurant, Moon Koon Restaurant. They are just a couple yards away from each other. It overlooks the nice view of the Happy Valley Racecourse.

You will come across its souvenir shop before entering the museum.

Hong Kong Jockey Club sourvenior shop before stepping into the Hong Kong Racing Museum

Hong Kong Jockey Club souvenir shop before stepping into the Hong Kong Racing Museum

It was established in 1996. And there is no other place more perfect than here at this location. This district, Happy Valley, was literally named after the horse racing activities over here.

I wanted to visit it in 2009 right after lunch. But it happened to be their closed day.

We went to have lunch in the Jockey Club restaurant for dim sum in Oct 2012. This was the second time for me to be in this same restaurant. The quality of food and service was as good as the first time. Right after that, we were able to check out the museum.

When you first step in, you will see many banners. Each represents an organization, school, orphanage or institution that the Hong Kong Jockey Club founded for charity.

Yes, the Hong Kong Jockey Club makes a tons of money and also gives back a lot back to the society which is an AWESOME thing.

Moving on, you will see a specimen of a horse. It is NOT a typical horse at all. It was, River Verdon, the first Triple Crown winner in Hong Kong racing history. It stood at its "stable". In front of that stable, there was an ornament for its Fung Shui.

The specimen of Triple Crown winner, River Verdon

Stable of River Verdon. See the ornaments on top? That was for Fung Shui use

Next to the horse, there were many tools and equipments used for taking care of the horses and horseshoes.

Horseshoes

Tools used for horseshoes

For children, they can learn about what kind of food the horses eat.

Going into another display room, there is a statue which was another famous horse in the Hong Kong racing history.

Next to it, there is a display table of the medals used for the winners, documents, race meeting program, journals and betting tickets. In the same room, there is a display of the machines the Hong Kong Jockey Club used for issuing betting tickets until the mid-1980s.

Hong Kong racing journals in the 1950s

Betting ticket machines used until mid-1980s

In another room, next to the exit of the Hong Kong Racing Museum, there is a skeleton of a horse. Like the specimen, this is another extraordinary horse. It was the 3-time Hong Kong Champion Horse, Silver Lining.

Next to it, there is a model of a stable showcasing the daily activities of the horses and their trainers.

Skeleton of 3-time Hong Kong Champion Horse, Silver Lining

There is also another display table with 2 thick photo albums of the winning jockeys and horses with the year of their championship.

One of the photo albums of all the winning horses and jockeys in the Hong Kong Racing Museum

Throughout the whole museum, there are many pictures showing the changes of the racecourse, activities of the horses and jockeys, horse caregivers and trainers.

But there was this one picture jumped right out to me. It reminded me the days when I was in primary school. My mom used to drive me back to school then. We passed by this racecourse every day. The school was on top of the hill. There were many occasions that we saw the caregivers taking the horses walking downhill towards the racecourse.

The picture at the bottom reminds me about my school day in Happy Valley seeing these trainers and horses walking up and down the hill, back and forth to the racecourse

We did make a special trip over here because our little one loves "horsies". If you are a museum-goer, interested in the jockey history or coming for the horse race, I would recommend you to pay a short trip over here. They even stay open a little bit late for the night races. Or, dine at one of their restaurants while appreciating the nice view of the racecourse. Although I didn't try all their restaurants, Moon Koon Restaurant is definitely 2-THUMBS-UP for me.

You can literally see the whole museum just browsing all the pictures here or photo album on our Facts-About-Hong-Kong Facebook page.

Direction: Get off Causeway Bay MTR station at Exit A or take bus number 37B, 37X, 38, 42, 65, 72, 72A, 75, 77, 90, 92, 96, 97,170, 590A, 592, 629S
Opening Hours: Tuesdays to Sundays 10:00-17:00
Night Races 10:00-19:30
Closed on Mondays, the first and second days of the Chinese New Year
Fee: FREE