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Horse racing in Hong Kong commenced in 1841 with the arrival of the British, who immediately set about draining a malarial swamp to form a racetrack at Happy Valley. With the exception of a few years during World War II, the track has seen non-stop action ever since. The Hong Kong Jockey Club was founded in 1884 and changed from an amateur to a professional organisation in 1971. A second racecourse was opened at Sha Tin in 1978.
Feature Race: Hong Kong Cup
The Hong Kong Cup is a Group 1 flat horse race in Hong Kong open to thoroughbreds which are three-years-old or above. It is run over a distance of 2,000 metres (approximately 1¼ miles) at Sha Tin Racecourse, and it takes place annually, presently in mid December.
The race was first run on January 24, 1988, and its distance was initially set at 1,800 metres. The inaugural running 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. The race was switched to December for its third running, therefore taking place twice within 1989. Horses trained in Europe were admitted in 1990, followed by those from the United States in 1991, and Canada and Japan in 1992. The distance was increased to its present length, 2,000 metres, in 1999. Also at this time the race was promoted to Group 1 status.
The Hong Kong Cup is one of the four Hong Kong International Races, and it presently offers a purse of HK$20,000,000 (approximately US$2.58 million).
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