Hong Kong Jockey Club History
The 1980's
The Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Cup started life on january 24th, 1988 as the Hong Kong Invitation Cup. This race was an 1800m event and was restricted to local horses and horses from Malaysia and Singapore by invitation only. This first race was won by Flying Dancer, who was backed at 5:1 in a small field of 12 horses.Flying Dancer took the lead in the last 100m and won with a 1 1/4 length margin.
In 1989 the Hong Kong Cup expanded it's international list to include horses from Australia and New Zealand.
The 1990's
Horses from Europe were added to the invitation list. Horses from the USA being added in 1991, and horses from Japan and Canada were included in 1992. The lsit of invititaional contries has grown to include others such as the United Arab Emiraes and South Africa.
1n 1993, the Hong Kong Invitation Cup earned International group 3 stats and was renamed the Hong Kong International cup to mark this momentus occasion. The cup was then upgraded to a Group 2 status in 1994.
The Hong Kong International Cup was again re-named in 1999 to the Hong Kong Cup, and became the first horse race in Hong Kong to be awarded with a full International Group 1 status. The Hong Kong Cup also became the final leg of the World series Racing Championship, and the race's distance was incresed from 188m to 2000m.
The 2000's
In 2003 history was made once again with champion Falbrav providing some amazing sparks on the track. Trainer Luca Cumani remarked "It was vantastic, it was like watching Seabiscuit" after watching the run.
In 2004 the race was re-named as the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Cup after a three-year partnership was announced with the title sponsor, Cathay Pacific.
The Worlds Richest Race
The Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Cup has become the riches trace in the world, with a prize pool of $18 million HK ($2.3 million US). The purse for the race is 12 times higher then when the race was first run 15 years ago.
|
