The first official bet placed on a horse race on the Chinese mainland since 1949 will take place on Saturday when the China Speed Horse Race Open is held in Wuhan City, Hubei Province.

Four races will be held at the Orient Lucky City racecourse with cash prizes totaling 120,000 yuan (US$17,143), according to Xi'an Evening Newspaper.

The betting will be launched alongside other horse racing events at the end of this month including the 6th China Wuhan International Horse Racing Festival, the report said.

The horse races will be held twice a week with five to seven races each time, said Wang Shenshun, vice director of the Wuhan Sports Administrative Bureau at a news conference.

"This is a trial operation for China to commercialize horse racing," he said.

Individuals or groups can apply for horse racing club memberships and invest in raising horses.

The central government approved the establishment of regular horse racing in Wuhan in January and agreed to introduce betting on a trial basis recently, the newspaper said.

Orient Lucky City is more than 1 million square meters and is the biggest horse breeding base in the country with a capacity of 2,000 horses. It has capacity for 30,000 spectators in the stands.

"Equipment in Wuhan is not worse than in Hong Kong," an official with the Orient Lucky City told the newspaper. "The only difference is the course in Hong Kong is made of grass while the one in Wuhan is sand."