The seventh Wuhan international horse racing festival opened in Wuhan on Saturday, attracting equestrians of the world and more than 300 horses.

During the two-day festival, more than 130 equestrians from seven countries and regions, such as Japan, Germany, Australia, Hong Kong and Macao of China, and 22 teams from the Chinese mainland will compete in this first-class horse race pageant of the country.

Six big horse races, including the important National Speed Racing Championship, will be staged at Wuhan Orient Lucky City with the biggest race course in the Chinese mainland.

Besides, some races of this festival introduce the games with award that audience can win a mobile phone rechargeable card if they guess right the winners.

As a sport event and entertainment, horse racing first thrived in Wuhan, capital city of central China's Hubei Province in early 1900s, after foreign and Chinese businessmen built up the country's top three race courses in the city.

The sport was banned on the Chinese mainland in 1949. It reappeared in the early 1990s after national races were organized and jockey clubs set up in southern coastal cities.

Operated from 2003, the Orient Lucky City covers more than one million square meters and is the biggest horse breeding base in the country where 2,000 horses are raised. The race course seats 30,000 spectators.

The previous six editions of the horse racing festivals in Wuhan attracted thousands of spectators.

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