Heart of the Matter: 16 months not enough time to find alternatives, say jockey and trainer on Singapore Turf Club closure

SINGAPORE: Being a professional jockey was all 29-year-old Singaporean Jerlyn Seow ever wanted after spending years training to be one.

It started with watching Hong Kong shows about horse racing and that soon developed into a passion.

Which explains why when she heard news of the Singapore Turf Club closure while scrolling through social media on Jun 5, she stopped in her tracks.

“I felt it was unbelievable and traumatising,’’ said Ms Seow, an apprentice jockey and guest on the Heart of the Matter podcast.

The government and the Singapore Turf Club had announced that the last race will be held on Oct 5, 2024 , and the land returned to the state by March 2027.

The 120 hectares of land in Kranji that is home to the Singapore Racecourse will be redeveloped and used for housing, including public housing.

Horse trainer Jason Ong, 35, said he was also shocked by the news.

Mr Ong said he was in Australia on a horse buying trip. He had heard rumours of a shutdown but by the time he returned to Singapore, the decision was made public.

Low Peck Kem, a council member of the Singapore Human Resource Institute, explained in the podcast that with sensitive announcements like business closures, some information is usually kept confidential.

But she added that communicating transparently to stakeholders is equally important.

“Nobody likes a rude shock. And generally, for good practices, very often it has to be kept quite quiet because there (may) be a lot of downstream implications,” she said.

“(But) we try to, in confidence, start to break the news. And the important thing is really to get the employees prepared.”

Neither Mr Ong nor Ms