This photo shows the elegant appearance of Tibetans riding horses. [Photo/China Tibet Online]

China, Singapore ink horse-racing deal

The unlikely Olympian

In France, racing is a world-class business with an annual turnover of around 10 billion euros ($13.6 billion) and provides 125,000 direct jobs.

"China can have a bigger market within a few years with the establishment of a relevant system. The country's fine training centers and tracks are not enough today," he says, adding that bigger investments for infrastructure in the sector is justified because of a promising future.

Tian Hua, deputy secretary-in-chief of the Chinese Equestrian Association, said at an Asian conference in Hong Kong last month that horse racing will be an important growth point in sports on the Chinese mainland and has the government's backing.

"France has brought its training programs to China and more top French jockeys have participated in competitions in China. We need both international races and local races together here to show the passion (of this sport) to people," Romanet says.

However, quarantine issues have long been a barrier to introduce top-level events in China, as most foreign thoroughbreds can only have one-way tickets to the mainland because of the Chinese rules.

Romanet's organization, which works with member countries on equine hygiene criteria worldwide, has been in contact with Chinese authorities over the issue. The Dubai World Cup, a thoroughbred horse race, organized a race in Sichuan province's capital city Chengdu two months ago, becoming the first international commercial race on the mainland to be held with a facility for quarantining horses if needed.

Romanet says more can happen in the future. Conghua in Guangdong province now has the only equine disease-free zone on the Chinese mainland. He lists several other cities which will probably have permanent equine disease-free zones in the near future including Chengdu, Tianjin and Hohhot.