GREENER PASTURES
Vicky Xu’s new Global Group Lifestyle & Sports Club highlights her deep love and respect for horses
For Vicky Xu, it all started in Mongolia. That was where she fell in love with horses and from where a lifelong respect and adoration for these noble and magnificent animals first took root. “I have loved horses since I was eight years old,” says Xu, whose first riding experience took place during a summer holiday in Mongolia with her father. “He believed in the benefits of horse riding for children, both physically and mentally.”
Mongolia’s horses can be wild, but Xu remembers talking to her horse before climbing on its back in an attempt to calm him, asking that he be gentle, as it was her first time to ride. Horses are renowned for being sensitive to human emotions and interacting with people. As a result, Xu says, “I had an amazing first-time experience on horseback, and since then I have been in love with horses.” While she continues to ride in Hong Kong and London, she also wished to enhance her equestrian engagement.
This year, therefore, Xu, who is vice-chairman of the Global Group, a venture capital investment company based in Hong Kong with businesses across the world, established Global Group Lifestyle & Sports Club. The Club is a high-end, premium establishment that integrates horse racing and other sports entertainment industries with sophisticated lifestyle events for its members. They include such highly prestigious dates on the racing calendar as Royal Ascot, Glorious Goodwood in the UK, the Kentucky Derby in the US and the Dubai World Cup etc.
The Club has already brought some of their prominent guests to Royal Ascot this June. Each of them enjoyed the perfect racing experience, watched the horses cross the finish line and captured the best moments at close range in the Royal Enclosure.
“The prestige of the business, social and networking opportunities there ensures our members enjoy enormous advantages and possibilities,” says Xu. The group currently has 45 racehorses, one of which placed fifth at Royal Ascot this year and was awarded Best Looking Horse on Ladies Day.
Racing events take place around the world, and in the UK alone about 5,000 racehorses are retired each year. Hong Kong retires more than 400 racehorses a year, many of which are shipped abroad to larger, greener pastures to live out their years. Looking after these retired racehorses is important for Xu, not only because of the Club’s link to the sport and Xu’s own passion, but also because, in 2017, the Global Group began breeding racehorses in the UK.
Besides providing opportunities for members of the Club to enjoy the exhilaration of horse racing and tailor-made events, the Club is therefore planning to set up a charitable fund to look after retired racehorses. Working with these animals—through both racing and breeding— has made Xu want to ensure that once their days on the track are over, these intelligent and sensitive creatures will be well cared for.
She also hopes that one day her fund will be able to provide opportunities for more people—especially children—to enjoy horse riding and its many benefits, from improved confidence and therapeutic and emotional enhancements to the many physical rewards that the sport brings. “I want other children to have the ability to ride,” says Xu. “It’s fun and there are so many benefits.”