Founded in 1884, The Hong Kong Jockey Club has become one of the world's largest and most respected racing organisations. It is Hong Kong's only authorised operator of horse racing, running racecourses at Happy Valley and Sha Tin as well as three public riding schools. The club also operates the Mark Six lottery and offers betting on overseas football matches.

The club is Hong Kong's largest single taxpayer, contributing $12.41 billion to the public purse in the 2005-06 season, or about 8.6 per cent of all taxes collected by the Inland Revenue Department during the year. It is also one of the city's largest employers, with over 24 000 full- and part-time staff.

In addition, the club is a major community benefactor, operating under a unique, not-for-profit business model whereby its surplus goes to charity. In the 2005-06 season it donated $1.03 billion to some 106 local charity and community projects through the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust.

The club works closely with the Government to promote responsible gambling policies and tackle illegal betting operators. A package of reforms to the horse race betting duty structure, endorsed by the Legislative Council in June 2006 and effective from the start of 2006-07 racing season, has given the club more flexibility to respond to changing market conditions and to combat the illegal gambling.

As well as responding to pressing social concerns, many of the club's community donations are targeted at longer-term challenges facing Hong Kong. A good example of this is CADENZA, a project launched on the club's own initiative in May 2006 to address issues arising from Hong Kong's ageing population. Aided by the Elderly Commission, government departments and leading local and international experts in social gerontology, this five-year, $380 million project aims to revolutionise the way Hong Kong perceives and cares for its elderly.

The club's experience in running equestrian events and its world-class facilities, especially in the areas of equine healthcare and import and export protocols, played an important part in securing approval for the equestrian events of the 2008 Beijing Olympics to be moved to Hong Kong. The club is building the major venues for the Olympic equestrian events at its own cost as a further demonstration of its commitment to the community. It will also make its equine hospital and laboratory facilities available to the organisers during the Olympics and Paralympics.

In 2006, Hong Kong continued to strengthen its reputation in the international horse racing world. In winning the Yasuda Kinen at Tokyo Racecourse in June, Hong Kong-trained Bullish Luck not only snared one of Japan's leading races, but also secured the four-leg Asian Mile Challenge Series.

The Cathay Pacific Hong Kong International Races at Sha Tin Racecourse in December saw some 30 top thoroughbreds from all over the world compete in four International Group One events on a single day for a total purse of $62 million, a spectacular day of sport broadcast to over one billion racing fans worldwide. Two of the trophies went to Hong Kong-trained horses, with Absolute Champion winning the Hong Kong Sprint and The Duke taking the Mile.