The National Day Race Meeting 2016 was held at Sha Tin Racecourse on Saturday, Oct.1. Amazing Kids and Joyful Trinity galloped to triumph in the National Day Cup (1000m) and Celebration Cup (1400m) event.

Horse racing in Hong Kong can be traced back to 1841 when the British came as well as brought their tradition of horse racing. The Hong Kong Jockey Club founded in 1884 is authorized by the government to hold the legal betting.

A National Day ceremony was held at noon. The Jockey Club invited Tianjin Acrobatic Troupe to perform the "Group Foot Juggling Act", which won the audience's acclaim. A famous musician in China, NIU Shasha, also sang the national anthem and another famous song "Ode to the Motherland".

After the ceremony, the audience watched the pre-race show of every horse in the Parade Ring, among which, a horse named "All You Wish" had a special haircut matching to the black dots in the jockey's costumes. Some people were seriously studying the betting odds while others were just enjoying the holiday. Visitors took photos with national flags and regional Hong Kong flag in hand, waiting for the races to begin. "My wife always thinks horse racing and football belong to men, but today, she accompanies me for the Nation Cup." A Hong Kong citizen wearing a T-shirt of FC Barcelona said.

When the race began, people were anxiously watching the big screen because it only took about 60 seconds to finish a race. As the horses came by, all the people at the Public Enclosure were looking at the same direction, yelling the number of the chosen horses. The winning horse and jockey were led to take photos while people felt happy or upset for their betting results. Vendors who brought in bags of beers and soft drinks made a small fortune during the break between two races.

At about 5 p.m., the National Cup and the Ceremony Cup caught the biggest attention from the audience. Ladies and gentlemen in formal dress all presented to watch these two events. Finally, Amazing Kids won the National Cup and Joyful Trinity ran the first in the Ceremony Cup. The jockey of Joyful Trinity, Moreira, won a treble and became the top on that day. Off the field, Mr. Liu, a doorkeeper for flats, felt rather upset because he lost all the betting. However, there were still lucky minorities who won over HK$500 and could get the cash on the spot.