tpvets_logo.jpg (2726 bytes)TOA PAYOH VETS
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Blk 1002, Toa Payoh Lor 8, 01-1477, Singapore 319074Tel: +65 6254-3326, 9668-6468. judy@toapayohvets.com
Focus: Small animals - dogs, cats, guinea pigs, hamsters, pet rats and mice, birds and turtles      
November 30, 2018
 
 

TOA PAYOH VETS CLINICAL RESEARCH:  RACEHORSES
 
CASE STUDIES
 
Warmblood feeling the Singapore's hot and humid noon time Singapore horse - impaction colic
2002. The horse pees with great difficulty 2002. The horse has constipation
Singapore horse. Left fore tendinitis Macau Jockey Club on May 28, 2012, singapore, toapayohvets
2002. The horse has swollen tendons 2012. Macau Jockey Club
   
Nipah Virus affecting horse racing in Singapore and Malaysia The Chairman's pony had colic
   
2001. Racehorse in the drain - shoot him? 2001. What makes a racehorse want to win races?
   
2001. Urticarial lumps are itchy in any racehorse 2001. This racehorse bites his tail
   
2001. This mare bites her belly 2001. Never judge a book by its cover
   
 
Dr Goh Keng Swee's few good men and women - reversing the decline in horse racing - Part 1 Dr Goh Keng Swee's few good men and women - reversing the decline in horse racing - Part 2
   
Dr Sing Kong Yuen was a veterinary surgeon at the Singapore Turf Club from around 1980 - 1990. His research report on the Singapore/Malaysia horse racing industry during the years 1980 - 1990 was published in a horse racing magazine and is reproduced as follows:

What makes a racehorse club successful?
Written by: Dr Sing Kong Yuen
Date of report: Around 1990


Some 20 years have flown by. Racing in Singapore is no longer the same as during the time I was the "Junior Veterinary Surgeon" of the Singapore Turf Club (STC) from 1982 - 1988 and a "Veterinary Surgeon" of the Bukit Turf Club (BTC) in 1989.

1989 was my last year of employment with the BTC as I decided to go back to my small animal practice at Toa Payoh Vets toapayohvets.com which I started around 1982 after having been working as a veterinarian with racehorses for around 8 years.

The Singapore Totalisator Board (STB) was formed in 1988 and appointed an agent, the Bukit Turf Club (BTC) to take over the racing and 4-D operations with effect from 1988. The BTC replaced the STC and formed an interesting task force to reverse the decline in the racing industry.

The task force visited racing clubs in Malaysia, Hong Kong, South Korea and Thailand and interviewed local racing owners. One of the members was me, being a veterinarian

I took some weeks and had written an article on the business of racing in Singapore in the late 1980s, comparing Singapore Turf Club with other racing clubs for an editor of a start up racing magazine.
 
A start-up racing magazine editor asked me to contribute an article for his inaugural issue. Rather than writing about common veterinary conditions of racehorses, I attempted to write a useful article for the benefit of the racehorses, the trainers and the jockeys. Since I had spent so much time with the task force, I had lots of information about the state of the Singapore racing industry and what was troubling it. A post-mortem of the racing industry and what to do was essentially what I would write.

The article was obtained by analysing the racing performance reported in various annual racecourse publications from the clubs in the U.S, South Africa, Hong Kong and Australia. These reports were requested by me in writing and the clubs post them to me in my personal capacity as a racehorse veterinarian doing research on veterinary viruses affecting racing and experienced by other clubs. 

Pages of the article have been scanned so as to share the historical data and information with racecourse operators in other parts of the world and to encourage the younger vets to add value to their employers and do the right thing, making a positive contribution and difference to their working environment. See also: Adding value to the employer's services - vowing the clients with memorable services

It was an article which I wanted to submit to the STB but did not know how. It was full of facts and information and it took several weeks to write as there was so much material from various horse-racing clubs to analyse and condense into a useful article.

Remember I was just a racehorse veterinarian, not a manager who produces management reports. So I hesitated in submitting this article to the General Manager of the STB who was responsible for reversing racing decline to the Executive Committee of the STB. He and the new General Manager of the Singapore Turf Club had no horse racing club management or horse racing experiences and so had to get research done by the task force.

It was a "boring article" if submitted in text as the usual case. It consisted of pages of words and tables, unlike the printed product with layout and photographs as published in the racing magazine (12 pages scanned as stated below).

UPDATE ON APRIL 24, 2018:
28 years have had passed. 
In 2018, the Singapore Turf Club has a new General Manager. In the newspapers, he was said to want to use the big grounds of the Club to host life-style activities. He hopes to widen the non-horse racing activities so as to generate revenue. Stiff competition from online betting, casinos and other betting outlet have had led to a reportedly lower revenue for the Singapore Turf Club. 


The horse racing magazine had ceased publication. I hope readers enjoy reading the articles in the scanned pages  as follows:

 


Toa Payoh Vets