SINGAPORE, Singapore (AFP) — Singapore’s richest horse race debuted two Sundays ago with hundreds of wealthy mainland Chinese in attendance, raising organisers’ hopes that their growing interest in the sport would fuel a regional circuit.

The Sg$3.05 million (US$2.44 million) China Equine Cultural Festival Singapore Cup was won by US-based Parranda, ridden by Belgian Christophe Soumillon.

The 1,800-metre nine-horse contest was timed to coincide with the lunar new year weekend, when many Chinese travel overseas.

Organisers China Horse Club said 500 Chinese guests who are “chief executives and above” as well as government officials and celebrities attended

Sunday’s race.

A total of 12,000 people, including Singapore’s avid horse-racing community, attended the event.

Teo Ah Khing, the Malaysian head of the Tianjin-based elite racing group, said the race was a test bed for plans to host a series of other international races for a similar elite Chinese crowd.

“The whole idea is to tap on a vacuum, a demand for a lot of Chinese from the mainland who travel overseas and read a lot about the big international races,” said Teo, a self-made billionaire.

“The affluent mainland Chinese want to be known as owners of stallions, owners of internationally renowned stallions,” Teo told AFP in an interview before the race.

Many of the high net-worth Chinese spectators donned finery, rekindling images of the centuries-old Britain’s Royal Ascot with men in crisp tailored

suits and women sporting colourful hats.

The race was limited exclusively to horses from China Horse Club’s stables.

The club, which owns dozens of mares in stables around the world in partnership with Ireland’s Coolmore racing empire, has runners that have won top-tier races as far afield as Australia, the United States and France.

Teo said many of the wealthy Chinese attending the race “are interested to know what racing can bring in terms of upgrading themselves… networking and business opportunities”.