Most people assume that the biggest race course in China is located in Beijing. Interestingly, whilst the western media continue to focus on the Mainland capital's racing infrastructure, the biggest course is actually the Orient Lucky City based in Wuhan.

For those who are not that familiar with China, Wuhan is the capital city of central China's Hubei Province. It is one of the six largest cities in China and covers 8,467 sq km with a population of 7.16 million (an urban population of approx. 4.86 million).

The Orient Lucky City track commenced operations in 2003. The company behind its construction - the Hong Kong-invested Orient Lucky Horse Co - spent a reported 1.5 billion yuan (US$181.2 million), to build the track.

Investors had hoped that the construction of the track would assist the company in acquiring the first legal bookmaking license in China. In a country that disallows any form of gambling, the State Sports General Administration (SSGA) has not provided any optimistic signals to date show that the central government is considering such a move any time in the near future.

Developers are therefore exercising patience - and absorbing massive annual debt - the track reportedly costing between 10 million yuan (US$1.2 million) and 30 million yuan (US$3.6 million) per year to maintain.

Meanwhile, the Wuhan track will host its third international horse racing festival in September. Racing will last for 8 days (September 17 to 24) and a number of countries will be represented including France, Spain, Australia, the United States, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Macau and mainland China.

(International racing festival news courtesy of Xinhua)