So stirs the sleeping giant and, with it, the dreams of British owners and breeders. A regular racing programme to facilitate betting in China requires imported horses to contest them. Britain has a surfeit of what is scarce in China.

For years British horsemen have twitched with anticipation that China would embrace racing with betting. The world’s most populated country is regarded as a vast new bloodstock market, yet one stymied to date by the betting ban.

However, implications for the finances of other racing nations are minimal. That is because most betting in China passes through a matrix of illegal bookmakers. They will be the worst affected, although China will have to wean punters off football and basketball, their preferred betting mediums.

That looks sure to happen. In neighbouring Japan, punters lay out the highest per-head betting spend in the world.

What’s more, China inherited a vibrant racing colony ten years ago, when Hong Kong was handed over by Britain. Betting continues to thrive; the Hong Kong Jockey Club’s annual turnover stands at HK$70 billion (£4.6 billion).

Since most Chinese punters with accounts overseas trade in offshore havens, their turnover is immune from payments to the annual levy in Britain. This levy, which finances British racing, is paid by bookmakers at a rate of one per cent of their annual turnover in Britain. The vast sums bet illegally in China have never been a part of the equation.

VC Bet, the bookmaker with strong tentacles in Asia, already boasts a significant Chinese client base. “It’s not a myth that Chinese punters love betting,” Michael Carlton, the chief executive, said. “We would have an even bigger customer base were it not difficult for Chinese people to make payments [to service their betting accounts].”

Mr Carlton said it was inevitable that the state-owned betting outfit would boom. “There are already strong betting alliances within Asia which generate huge pools,” he said, which meant vast sums could be won for small outlays.

There would be only benefits for Britain in the form of increased horse-export opportunities, Mr Carlton forecast. Indeed, some far-thinking breeders have already forged links in China. “I have seen many business plans attempting to establish horse-trade and racing links with China.”

While opportunity now stares Britain’s owners and breeders in the face, they will have to act quickly. Their counterparts in Australasia are equally prominent – if not more so – in supplying horses to race in Dubai, Hong Kong, Macau, Malaysia and Singapore.

Another welcome offshoot, albeit one that will take years, is China’s anticipated staging of valuable international races to complement those in Hong Kong, Singapore and Dubai. This will increase the opportunities for British-based owners of the best racehorses.

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