Famous Horse Races - Hong Kong Cup
Race type:
Thoroughbred - Flat racing
Purse: $18,000,000 HK ($2,300,000 US).
Location: Sha Tin Racecourse
- Sha Tin Asia
Inaugurated: 1988
Track: Turf Straight
Qualifications: three-year-old
and above
The Hong Kong Cup is a Group 1 flat horse race
in Hong Kong for three-year-old and above thoroughbreds
run over a distance of 2,000 metres (approximately
1 mile 2 furlongs) at Sha Tin Racecourse in mid
December.
The inaugral race was held on January 24, 1988.
Following the January 1989 race, it was changed
to a December event and another running took place
that same year on December 17, 1989. The race
was first run over 1,800 metres (1 mile 1 furlong)
which was increased to the present distance in
1999 when the race became a Group 1 event. It
is one of the four Hong Kong International Races.
The first race was restricted to horses trained
in Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore. Added to
this list for the following season were horses
from Australia and New Zealand. European trained
horses were admitted in 1990, followed by those
from the United States in 1991, Canada and Japan
in 1992.
The race was originally staged in January, and
was switched to December for the third running,
therefore taking place twice within 1989.
Hong Kong Cup
The Emirates World Series Racing Championship is
one of the most exciting prospects for thoroughbred
racing, where the best horses in the world compete
at the best racetracks and in the best races to
establish a global champion.
First launched in March 1999, the inaugural competition
brought together horses from the United States,
Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Hong Kong,
Germany, France, Ireland and Great Britain in a
nine-race series to decide which horse truly befits
the title of world champion.
In this second year of the Series, two more races
have been added so that the the Emirate World Series
2000 now comprises 11 races spanning both hemispheres
and held in nine countries and over four continents.
Each leg of the Emirates World Series Racing Championship
is beamed into over 200 countries worldwide reaching
an estimated audience of between 1.5 and 2 billion
viewers.
The Emirates World Series is a global competition
that will continue to develop and grow, bringing
pleasure and reward to all those involved, players
and punters alike.
This Hong Kong Cup was initially run as the Hong
Kong Invitation Cup in January 1988 when the overseas
entries were confined Malaysia and Singapore. The
race was granted Group3 status in 1993, Group 2
in 1994, and it became the first ever race in Hong
Kong with full international Group 1 ranking in
Jim And Tonic's year - 1999 - when it also emerged
as the final leg of the Emirates World Series. Last
year, the great Fantastic Light claimed a last gasp
triumph to record his first Emirates World Series
crown in Hong Kong with a smooth success from Greek
Dance. 1999 was also the year when the Cup's distance
was increased to 2000m from 1800m. This year the
Hong Kong Cup becomes the richest race on turf in
the world over 2000m at HK$18 million (approx. US$2.3
million, GB¢G1.56 million, Aus$4.5 million). |
