Gone are the days when bidding wars among the world’s racing elite produced big price tags at the sales, including a record $16 million in 2006 for The Green Monkey, who raced three times and finished no better than third.

The China Horse Club has about 200 members, according to its vice president, Eden Harrington. Membership costs a minimum of $1 million, according to some reports, but Mr. Harrington said the club offered different tiers of investment and that the fee was a credit that went toward the purchase of horses. He declined to give a range, and the club does not disclose the identities of members, who include wealthy citizens from China’s mainland and beyond.

The club’s success, however, has led to questions about where its money is coming from, how it is being used, and how the club has been able to spend so much overseas when the Chinese government’s sweeping anti-corruption crackdown has halted billions of dollars of international deals.

Teo Ah Khing, the man behind the high-flying club, is a self-described billionaire from Malaysia with big ambitions. Mr. Teo, a Harvard-educated architect, does not want to just win races, he wants to build a horse racing mecca in China, where gambling is still illegal. He has also broken ground on a horse racing “resort and lifestyle development” in St. Lucia, a Caribbean island that currently has no thoroughbred industry but does have a citizenship-by-investment program that provides passports to anyone who invests $100,000 in the country — an attractive perk for wealthy Chinese citizens who want to escape pollution and seek better education for their children.

Mr. Teo did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Mr. Teo’s introduction to the world of horse racing began when he designed the Meydan Racecourse in Dubai for Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. His club is now the world’s ninth-ranked owner, according to a calculation by the website Thoroughbred Racing Commentary.