Queen Elizabeth II Cup

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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 renowned Swiss Watchmaker Audemars Piguet since 1999, it currently offers a purse of HK$14 million (US$1.8 million).

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.

[edit] Winners since 1995

Year	Winner	Age	Jockey	Trainer	Owner	Time
1995	Red Bishop	7	Michael Kinane	Hilal Ibrahim	Ali Saeed	2:17.2
1996	Overbury	5	Frankie Dettori	Saeed bin Suroor	Godolphin	2:14.5
1997	London News	5	Douglas Whyte	Alec Laird	Laurie & Jean Jaffee	2:00.3
1998	Oriental Express	5	Douglas Whyte	Ivan W. Allan	Larry Yung Chi Kin	2:01.0
1999	Jim And Tonic	5	Gerald Mosse	François Doumen	John D. Martin	2:00.1
2000	Industrialist	4	Alan Munro	Brian Kan	A. Hu Si Nok & P. Wong Yau Ming	2:02.1
2001	Silvano	5	Andreas Suborics	Andreas Wöhler	Stiftung Gestüt Fährhof	2:03.1
2002	Eishin Preston	5	Yuichi Fukunaga	Shuji Kitahashi	Toyomitsu Hirai	2:02.5
2003	Eishin Preston	6	Yuichi Fukunaga	Shuji Kitahashi	Toyomitsu Hirai	2:03.8
2004	River Dancer	5	Glyn Schofield	John Size	Ronnie Arculli	2:01.4
2005	Vengeance of Rain	4	Anthony Delpech	David E. Ferraris	Chow Nam & R. G. Chow Hon Man	2:01.8
2006	Irridescence	5	Weichong Marwing	Mike de Kock	Team Valor	2:02.0
2007	Viva Pataca	5	Michael Kinane	John Moore	Stanley Ho Hung-Sun	2:01.9
2008	Archipenko	4	Kevin Shea	Mike De Kock	Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Maktoum	2:00.8

[edit] Earlier winners

[edit] References

• Queen Elizabeth II Cup at Goldolphin Racing's website
• The Hong Kong Jockey Clubs official website for the Queen Elizabeth II Cup