Hong Kong Cup Preview, Tips, Runners & Trends (Hong Kong International Races)

Updated: 606 Horse Racing

See which trainers and jockeys have performed well in this fact-packed blog for the Hong Kong Cup. This is a race that is hosted at Sha Tin during the Hong Kong International Races with the race being run over a distance of 1m2f, see which trends the past winners of the Hong Kong Cup have set for this year.

Hong Kong Cup Preview, Tips, Runners & Trends (Hong Kong International Races)
Andy Powell Content Editor

Horse Racing stats man, Andy has contributed to OLBG for 18 years - An Ipswich fan and F1 fanatic, he also contributes EFL football and Motor Sport opinion.

2024 Hong Kong Cup Preview

One of four of the Hong Kong International Races that are run at Sha Tin is the Hong Kong Cup, this Group 1 is run in December of each year and is open to runners aged three or older. Run over a distance of one mile and two furlongs (2,000m) the race was introduced in 1988 and originally ran over one furlong shorter (1,800m).

The race was originally restricted to runners from either Hong Kong, Malaysia or Singapore and then in 1989 horses from both Australia and New Zealand were invited. The invitations extended further to European-trained horses in 1990 and then a year later the US-trained horses, in 1992 horses from both Canada and Japan were also permitted entry.

Hong Kong Cup Information:

If you are interested in other predictions at Sha Tin then head over to the Sha Tin tips page to see which runners are being supported by the OLBG racing tipsters and also compare those predictions to the runners that make the trend shortlist when added below. You may also be interested in other preview blogs that we have packed full of information, head down to the Other Principal Races at Sha Tin Racecourse section for links to these.

How competitive is the Hong Kong Cup market? When looking at the over-rounds for the last 10 renewals, the most competitive market was in 2015 when the race had an over-round of 119%. The race in 2022 was a race that was most in the bookie's favour with an over-round of 123%, whilst on average over the last 10 renewals of the Hong Kong Cup, the over-round has been 122%, which means the bookie expects to pay out £100 for every £122 which is bet.

Hong Kong Cup Trends:

Looking at the future form, is the winner worth following next time out? From the past 10 if you had followed the winner of the Hong Kong Cup next time out then you would have backed a total of 2 winners. Backing all 6 runners who have been out since to win at SP next time out, would have returned an LSP of +4.65. Ahead of the 2024 Hong Kong Cup why not head over to the racing predictions for tips on other races today?

Over the last 10 renewals, it was the C S Shum trained Romantic Warrior ridden by James McDonald who set the fastest winning time in the Hong Kong Cup, the runner won the race in a time of 1:59.70 was set when winning the race in 2022. At the other end of the scale, it was the combination of trainer C S Shum and jockey James McDonald with Romantic Warrior who set the slowest winning time, the race-winning time was 2:02.00 in the 2023 renewal.

These are the top three quickest-run Hong Kong Cup over the last 10 renewals:

  1. Romantic Warrior (1:59.70) in 2022
  2. Normcore (2:00.50) in 2020
  3. Win Bright (2:00.52) in 2019

Hong Kong Cup Past Winners

Here are the Hong Kong Cup past winners for the last 10 renewals. Each row details the year of the race, the horse which won along with the age & weight of the horse. Also detailed is the stall where the horse came from and the total number of runners in the race. The trainer of the horse at the time of winning the Hong Kong Cup as well as the jockey is also displayed along with the starting price the horse was sent off.

YearHorse (Drawn)Info
2023
2:02.00
Romantic Warrior (IRE)
5yo 9-0 (7 of 11) 27/20F
James McDonald
C S Shum (HK)
2022
1:59.70
Romantic Warrior (IRE)
4yo 9-0 (7 of 12) 17/20F
James McDonald
C S Shum (HK)
2021
2:00.66
Loves Only You (JPN)
5yo 8-10 (4 of 12) 8/5F
Yuga Kawada
Yoshito Yahagi (JPN)
2020
2:00.50
Normcore (JPN)
5yo 8-10 (3 of 8) 10/1
Zac Purton
Kiyoshi Hagiwara (JPN)
2019
2:00.52
Win Bright (JPN)
5yo 9-0 (8 of 8) 22/5
Masami Matsuoka
Yoshihiro Hatakeyama (JPN)
2018
2:01.71
Glorious Forever (GB)
4yo 9-0 (1 of 9) 68/10
Silvestre De Sousa
F C Lor (HK)
2017
2:01.63
Time Warp (GB)
4yo 9-0 (5 of 12) 61/20
Zac Purton
A S Cruz (HK)
2016
2:00.95
Maurice (JPN)
5yo 9-0 (8 of 12) 3/4F
Ryan Moore
Noriyuki Hori (JPN)
2015
2:00.60
A Shin Hikari (JPN)
4yo 9-0 (12 of 13) 25/1
Yutaka Take
Masanori Sakaguchi (JPN)
2014
2:01.96
Designs On Rome (IRE)
4yo 9-0 (3 of 12) 7/4F
Joao Moreira
John Moore (HK)

Where have the winning runners come from?

Here are the countries where the winning trainers of the Hong Kong Cup have been based:

  • HK: 5 winners with an additional 8 placings from 53 runners
  • JPN: 5 winners with an additional 8 placings from 31 runners
  • IRE: 0 winners with an additional 3 placings from 9 runners
  • FR: 0 winners with an additional 0 placings from 7 runners
  • GB: 0 winners with an additional 0 placings from 6 runners
  • AUS: 0 winners with an additional 1 placing from 3 runners

Hong Kong Cup Trainer Statistics

The leading trainer in the Hong Kong Cup over the last 10 renewals is C S Shum who has won the race two times with those two winners coming from Romantic Warrior (2022 & 2023).

Here are some of the top Hong Kong Cup trainer statistics over the last 10 renewals (R = Runners, W = Winners, P = Places including winners, Win LSP is based on 1pt Win and EW LSP is based on 0.5pt Win & 0.5pt Place):

TrainerR-W-PWinEW
C S Shum5-2-2-0.80-1.68
A S Cruz16-1-3-11.95-11.06
F C Lor7-1-2+0.80+2.88
John Moore6-1-2-3.25-3.33
Noriyuki Hori4-1-4-2.25+1.36
Masanori Sakaguchi2-1-1+24.00+14.00
Yoshihiro Hatakeyama2-1-2+3.40+3.04
Yoshito Yahagi2-1-1+0.60-0.04
Kiyoshi Hagiwara1-1-1+10.00+6.00
A P O'Brien7-0-3-7.00-4.11

Hong Kong Cup Jockey Statistics

There are two leading jockeys in the Hong Kong Cup over the last 10 renewals with both Zac Purton and James McDonald who have both won the race two times. Zac Purton winners have been with Time Warp (2017) and Normcore (2020). James McDonald winners have been with Romantic Warrior (2022 & 2023).

Here are some of the top Hong Kong Cup jockey statistics over the last 10 renewals (R = Runners, W = Winners, P = Places including winners, Win LSP is based on 1pt Win and EW LSP is based on 0.5pt Win & 0.5pt Place):

JockeyR-W-PWinEW
Zac Purton8-2-5+7.05+5.19
James McDonald3-2-2+1.20+0.32
Joao Moreira9-1-4-6.25-3.04
Ryan Moore9-1-5-7.25-3.46
Yutaka Take4-1-1+22.00+12.00
Silvestre De Sousa3-1-2+4.80+6.88
Masami Matsuoka2-1-2+3.40+3.04
Yuga Kawada2-1-1+0.60-0.04
Karis Teetan6-0-0-6.00-6.00
Hugh Bowman5-0-1-5.00-3.10

Favourites finishing positions (oldest to latest): 1, 13, 1, 2, 2, (3, 4), 3, 1, 1, 1

The percentage shown is the percentage of the total number of runners who fell under that factor. High percentages are less appealing than lower ones as you would expect them to do well. The trend information is based on the available information on the racing post in terms of previous runs etc.

  • 10 / 10 (50%) - Not on HY/SFT/GD (Debut)
  • 10 / 10 (58%) - Made 9 - 22 starts (Career)
  • 10 / 10 (58%) - Had 7 - 14 placings (Career)
  • 10 / 10 (61%) - Break of 21 - 231 days (Last Win)
  • 10 / 10 (62%) - Had 4 - 11 wins (Career)
  • 10 / 10 (68%) - No bigger than 25/1
  • 10 / 10 (71%) - Won within last 5 starts
  • 10 / 10 (75%) - Not in CAN/ENG/FRA/DEU/IRL/SGP/ZAF/UAE (Last Win)
  • 10 / 10 (78%) - Had 1 - 5 wins (Season)
  • 10 / 10 (78%) - Ran over 1m2f - 1m3f (LTO)
  • 10 / 10 (79%) - Had 1 - 6 wins (1 Year)
  • 10 / 10 (80%) - Had 2 - 8 placings (Season)
  • 10 / 10 (81%) - Off a break of 21 - 43 days
  • 10 / 10 (84%) - Had 1 - 7 placings (Trip)
  • 10 / 10 (85%) - Not in CAN/ENG/FRA/IRL/ITA (LTO)

Remember to use the trends listed above along with the Sha Tin racing predictions to see if you can find the winner of the Hong Kong Cup. You may want to do your research into the race, there are times when there are several runners who pass the trends so you need to do your research to find a bet, we have a Horse Racing Form Reading Made Easy & What to Look For article to help you do just this in the OLBG Betting School section.

Are you already a member? If not, then why not? With over £6,000 given away each month in the tipster competition, why not get involved? Remember, It is completely FREE! So, head over to the registration page to sign up today! If you are already a member, then share your thoughts on the Hong Kong Cup by adding a tip on the race here.

Hong Kong Cup Trend Analysis

The trend factor that produced 5+ winners and shows the best LSP, an LSP of +31.70 is when runners had 3 wins in the past year. The worst performing factor that has failed to produce a single winner is when runners had 2 wins in the past year, when backing these the trend shows a record of 0-31.

Here are the most recent winning draws along with the further placings in brackets:

  • 2023: Winner in 7 (10,2) [11 Runners]
  • 2022: Winner in 7 (6,4) [12 Runners]
  • 2021: Winner in 4 (12,10) [12 Runners]
  • 2020: Winner in 3 (8,1) [8 Runners]
  • 2019: Winner in 8 (2,3) [8 Runners]

The course which has produced the most winners of the Hong Kong Cup is Sha Tin, there has been a total number of 4 winners of this race who ran at Sha Tin last time out. The next best course which has produced the second most winners is Tokyo, there has been a total number of 3 winners of this race who ran at Tokyo last time out.

The race is open to both sexes with the Male runners having produced a total of 8 winners from a total of 96 runners whilst the Female runners have produced 2 winners from a total of 13 runners.

Looking over the past renewals, these are the stallions whose offspring have produced multiple winners of the Hong Kong Cup:

  • Acclamation (2 Wins)
  • Archipenko (2 Wins)
  • Deep Impact (2 Wins)

Looking over the past renewals, there is only one stallion whose offspring have been disappointed with multiple attempts but no wins in the Hong Kong Cup, that stallion is Galileo who has failed to produce a winner from 6 runners.

Looking at the winning odds over the last 10 renewals, the biggest-priced winner was A Shin Hikari in 2015, winning for Masanori Sakaguchi at odds of 25/1 under the guidance of Yutaka Take. Looking at the runners at the head of the market over the last 10 renewals there have been 5 winning favourites in the race. Remember to use the best racing tipsters along with the information on this page to find you a bet on the 2024 Hong Kong Cup. All figures and trends above, such as the horse's previous runs are based on the information that is available on the racing post.

Other Principal races at Sha Tin racecourse

Here are some other notable races at the Sha Tin racecourse throughout the racing season that you may be interested in.

Races in January (Hong Kong Triple Crown)

Races in February (Hong Kong Triple Crown)

Races in April

Races in May (Hong Kong Triple Crown)

Races in November

Races in December (Hong Kong International Races)

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