Singapore's only public horse riding school has been forced to relocate to neighbouring Malaysia to make way for one of two casino resorts that will be built in the city-state.

A spokesman for Sentosa Development Corporation, which manages the Sentosa leisure islet, confirmed to AFP today that the Sentosa ranch will close its doors on Sept 30 and move to Johor Bahru just across the causeway.

The Sentosa ranch, which opened less than 10 months ago, was unable to find another suitable location in Singapore, its administrative manager was quoted as saying in the Today newspaper Friday.

Pretty upset

"We are pretty upset about it because it's the only ranch open to the public and the response has been good so far," said Chitra Rogers.

The site where the ranch is now located has been earmarked for one of Singapore's two proposed Las Vegas-style casino resorts to be built by 2009.

Singapore in April end its four-decade ban on casinos in the hope that the multi-billion-dollar projects would spice up its strait-laced image and attract more tourists.