Jockey Club of Turkey (Turkish: Türkiye Jokey Kulübü, TJK) was founded on 2 November 1950.
Jockey Club of Turkey has been conducting horse races and organizing mutual betting since 3 October 1953 by the power given by Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock.
Purposes of Jockey Club of Turkey can be summarized as below: Organized horse races were conducted in Izmir on 23 September 1856 for the first time.
During the leadership of Evliyazade Refik Bey [tr] and the tenure of Mr. Patterson as the Consul General of England, the Smyrna Races Club was founded.
races were in their golden ages at the beginning of the 20th century and this ended with the start of 1st World War.
According to the directory published in 1909, Grand Vizier Sait Halim Pasha was the president of Ottoman Jockey Club.
The Jockey Club of Turkey was founded on 23 October 1950 by the period’s Secretary of State Fevzi Lutfi Karaosmanoglu, Deputy of Kocaeli Saim Onhon, Halim Sait Turkhan, Nejat Evliyazade and Sait Akson with the approvals of the era’s President and Prime Minister.
Lounge of the club was opened on the Ziya Gökalp street in Ankara with the attendance of President Celal Bayar on 14 April 1951.
With a resolution of the extraordinary congress, headquarter of Jockey Club of Turkey was moved to Istanbul.
Uyken, Nimet, Turkiye Jokey Kulubu Tarihcesi, TJK Publishing House, Istanbul, 2000 3.