Queen Elizabeth II Cup

This article is about the Hong Kong horse race. For other uses, see Elizabeth Cup (disambiguation).

The Queen Elizabeth II Cup is a Group One Thoroughbred horse race at Sha Tin Racecourse in the New Territories, Hong Kong. Established in 1975 by the Royal Hong Kong Jockey Club, it is run annually in April at a distance of 2,000 metres (ten furlongs) on turf. Prior to 1997 it was run at 2,200 metres (eleven furlongs). Sponsored by Swiss watchmaker Audemars Piguet since 1999, it currently offers a purse of HK$20 million (US$2.6 million)since 2014/15.

The Queen Elizabeth II Cup was first run at the Happy Valley Racecourse in Happy Valley, Hong Kong to commemorate a visit to Hong Kong by Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Philip. It evolved to an international event in 1995, with Hong Kong horses competing against those from the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, France, Japan and Australia.

Since becoming a Group One race in 2001, every winner of the Audemars Piguet Queen Elizabeth II Cup has been a descendant of Northern Dancer. The 2006 race saw Irridescence upset the great filly and European Horse of the Year, Ouija Board.

The Queen Elizabeth II Cup has been sponsored by the Swiss haute horlogerie brand Audemars Piguet for around 17 years now, they continue to make special edition pieces (mostly based on the Royal Oak) to celebrate their sponsorship of the event. They join companies such as Omega SA, Rolex and Longines as one of the official sports event partners that provide both sponsorship and race timers.

Winners since 1995

Year	Winner	Age	Jockey	Trainer	Owner	Time
1995	Red Bishop	7	Michael Kinane	Hilal Ibrahim	Ali Saeed	2:17.20
1996	Overbury	5	Frankie Dettori	Saeed bin Suroor	Godolphin	2:14.50
1997	London News	5	Douglas Whyte	Alec Laird	Laurie & Jean Jaffee	2:00.30
1998	Oriental Express	5	Douglas Whyte	Ivan W. Allan	Larry Yung Chi Kin	2:01.00
1999	Jim And Tonic	5	Gerald Mosse	François Doumen	John D. Martin	2:00.10
2000	Industrialist	4	Alan Munro	Brian Kan	A. Hu Si Nok & P. Wong Yau Ming	2:02.10
2001	Silvano	5	Andreas Suborics	Andreas Wöhler	Stiftung Gestüt Fährhof	2:03.10
2002	Eishin Preston	5	Yuichi Fukunaga	Shuji Kitahashi	Toyomitsu Hirai	2:02.50
2003	Eishin Preston	6	Yuichi Fukunaga	Shuji Kitahashi	Toyomitsu Hirai	2:03.80
2004	River Dancer	5	Glyn Schofield	John Size	Ronald Arculli	2:01.40
2005	Vengeance of Rain	4	Anthony Delpech	David E. Ferraris	Chow Nam & R. G. Chow Hon Man	2:01.80
2006	Irridescence	5	Weichong Marwing	Mike de Kock	Team Valor	2:02.00
2007	Viva Pataca	5	Michael Kinane	John Moore	Stanley Ho Hung-Sun	2:01.90
2008	Archipenko	4	Kevin Shea	Mike de Kock	Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Maktoum	2:00.80
2009	Presvis	5	Ryan Moore	Luca Cumani	Leonidas Marinopoulos	2:02.97
2010	Viva Pataca	8	Weichong Marwing	John Moore	Stanley Ho Hung-Sun	2:04.97
2011	Ambitious Dragon	4	Douglas Whyte	A.T. Millard	Lam Pui Hung	2:02.23
2012	Rulership	5	Umberto Rispoli	Katsuhiko Sumii	Sunday Racing Co Ltd	2:02.38
2013	Military Attack	5	Tommy Berry	John Moore	Mr & Mrs Steven Lo Kit Sing	2:02.15
2014	Designs On Rome	4	Tommy Berry	John Moore	Cheng Keung Fai	2:01.06
2015	Blazing Speed	6	Neil Callan	Tony Cruz	Fentons Racing Syndicate	2:02.89

Earlier winners

4

References

• The Hong Kong Jockey Club
• Hong Kong Jockey Club, Racing Information of Audemars Piguet QE II Cup (2011/12)
• Goldolphin Racing, Queen Elizabeth II Cup