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.
2025 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:
Why not use the trends shortlist below to help you narrow down the field and then head over to the dedicated Sha Tin tips page to see which runners are being supported by the OLBG expert racing tipsters to find yourself a bet? You may also be interested in other preview blogs that we have packed full of information, head down to the Other Principal Races in Hong Kong section for links to these.
Best Horse Racing Betting Sites 2024
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.
Below you will find the 2025 Hong Kong Cup Trends, see which patterns have occurred over the recent renewals that you may be able to use for the next renewal, we also have a section that looks at the Hong Kong Cup Trend Analysis.
These are the top three quickest-run Hong Kong Cup over the last 10 renewals:
- Romantic Warrior (1:59.70) in 2022
- Normcore (2:00.50) in 2020
- Romantic Warrior (2:00.51) in 2024
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 +4.05. Ahead of the 2025 Hong Kong Cup why not head over to the racing predictions for tips on other races today?
The runner that holds the record over the past 10 renewals for the slowest time in the race was set in the 2023 renewal when Romantic Warrior from C S Shum under the guidance of James McDonald, won in a time of 2:02.00, whilst at the other end of the spectrum, Romantic Warrior, trained by C S Shum and ridden by James McDonald set the quickest time of 1:59.70 in the 2022 renewal.
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 horse's trainer and the jockey at the time of winning the Hong Kong Cup are also displayed, along with the starting price at which the horse was sent off.
| Year | Horse (Drawn) | Info |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 2:00.51 | Romantic Warrior (IRE) 6yo 9-0 (1 of 11) 1/10F | James McDonald C S Shum (HK) |
| 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) |
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 7 placings from 49 runners
- JPN: 5 winners with an additional 10 placings from 32 runners
- IRE: 0 winners with an additional 3 placings from 11 runners
- GB: 0 winners with an additional 0 placings from 7 runners
- FR: 0 winners with an additional 0 placings from 7 runners
- AUS: 0 winners with an additional 0 placings from 2 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 three times with those three winners coming from Romantic Warrior (2022, 2023 & 2024).
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):
| Trainer | R-W-P | Win | EW |
|---|---|---|---|
| C S Shum | 6-3-3 | -0.70 | -1.62 |
| A S Cruz | 13-1-3 | -8.95 | -8.06 |
| F C Lor | 7-1-2 | +0.80 | +2.88 |
| Noriyuki Hori | 5-1-5 | -3.25 | +2.16 |
| Masanori Sakaguchi | 2-1-1 | +24.00 | +14.00 |
| Yoshihiro Hatakeyama | 2-1-2 | +3.40 | +3.04 |
| Yoshito Yahagi | 2-1-1 | +0.60 | -0.04 |
| Kiyoshi Hagiwara | 1-1-1 | +10.00 | +6.00 |
| A P O'Brien | 9-0-3 | -9.00 | -6.11 |
| C Fownes | 5-0-1 | -5.00 | -4.28 |
Hong Kong Cup Jockey Statistics
The leading jockey in the Hong Kong Cup over the last 10 renewals is James McDonald who has won the race three times with those three winners coming from Romantic Warrior (2022, 2023 & 2024). The only other jockey to have recorded multiple wins in the Hong Kong Cup is Zac Purton (2 wins).
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):
| Jockey | R-W-P | Win | EW |
|---|---|---|---|
| James McDonald | 4-3-3 | +1.30 | +0.38 |
| Zac Purton | 7-2-4 | +8.05 | +5.24 |
| Ryan Moore | 10-1-5 | -8.25 | -4.46 |
| Yutaka Take | 4-1-1 | +22.00 | +12.00 |
| Silvestre De Sousa | 3-1-2 | +4.80 | +6.88 |
| Yuga Kawada | 3-1-2 | -0.40 | +0.29 |
| Masami Matsuoka | 2-1-2 | +3.40 | +3.04 |
| Joao Moreira | 8-0-3 | -8.00 | -4.09 |
| Karis Teetan | 6-0-0 | -6.00 | -6.00 |
| Hugh Bowman | 5-0-0 | -5.00 | -5.00 |
2025 Hong Kong Cup Trends
Favourites finishing positions (oldest to latest): 13, 1, 2, 2, (3, 4), 3, 1, 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 (57%) - Ran in 9 - 22 races (Career)
- 10 / 10 (58%) - Not in AUS/CAN/CHL/FRA/DEU/IRL/ITA/NZL/ZAF/WAL (Debut)
- 10 / 10 (61%) - Break of 21 - 224 days (Last Win)
- 10 / 10 (63%) - No bigger than 25/1
- 10 / 10 (64%) - Won within last 4 starts
- 10 / 10 (65%) - Not in a G1/Cl3-4/Cl6 (Debut)
- 10 / 10 (78%) - Had 1 - 5 wins (Season)
- 10 / 10 (79%) - Had 1 - 6 wins (1 Year)
- 10 / 10 (79%) - Ran over 1m2f - 1m3f (LTO)
- 10 / 10 (80%) - Had 2 - 8 placings (Season)
- 10 / 10 (81%) - In a field of 8 - 15 (Last Win)
- 10 / 10 (81%) - Had 2 - 8 placings (1 Year)
- 10 / 10 (82%) - Beaten no more -4l (Debut)
- 10 / 10 (83%) - Off a break of 21 - 43 days
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. How well do you know your horse racing? Are there certain types of races that you are unsure of? Why not take a look at this Types Of Horse Race article to familiarise yourself with the different types of racing, that is just one of many helpful horse racing articles in the OLBG Betting School.
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 which had produced 5+ winners and shows the best LSP, an LSP of +31.95 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 3 starts in the past 180 days, when backing these the trend shows a record of 0-32.
Here are the most recent winning draws along with the further placings in brackets:
- 2024: Winner in 1 (5,7) [11 Runners]
- 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]
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 92 runners whilst the Female runners have produced 2 winners from a total of 16 runners.
Looking over the past renewals, these are the stallions whose offspring have produced multiple winners of the Hong Kong Cup:
- Acclamation (3 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 7 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. Ahead of the 2025 Hong Kong Cup why not head over to the best racing tipster page to see what the tipsters are backing today? All figures and trends above, such as the horse's previous runs are based on the information that is available on the racing post.
Article Contributor Information
We are blessed with an excellent team of specialists and experts at OLBG. Contributing to creating and maintaining this Hong Kong Cup Preview are at hand, Andy and James. They both work on the Horse racing tips team team looking after the tipsters and managing the tips settlement, whilst also creating and managing all of the horse racing event previews for International racing.
James Banting
Tipster Competition Assistant
Andy Powell
Content Editor
