Five horse owners at the meeting spoke to the media, with all saying that they were not consulted prior to the announcement that the Turf Club was closing.
One of the horse owners in the committee, Mr Joe Giovanni Singh, said their objective was to appeal to the government to ensure that horse racing can stay on or at least get an extension.
“We’ve got a lot of people who are really very, very keen in this … sport. And it’s very sad to see that suddenly out of the blue that we have to close shop in Singapore,” said Mr Singh, who has 15 horses at the Turf Club.
Another horse owner, Mr Hobart Low, who has about 20 horses, said that there were two camps in the meeting – one group that wanted to appeal for horse racing to continue and another that accepted the closure.
He belongs to the group that wants to appeal he said, as the closure “might not have been the right decision”.
“We just want to have a voice first … before we proceed to talk about the exit strategy, what we can do about compensation,” he said.
“Maybe if miracles happen, the government will decide … to hear our voices and look at the whole situation differently.”