Hong Kong Cup
Hong Kong Cup
Group One Betting Guide
| Date: | December 7, 2025 |
| Location: | Sha Tin Racecourse, Hong Kong |
| Distance: | 2000m |
| Prize Money: | HK$36,000,000 |
The Hong Kong Cup is the final feature race at the International Meeting at Sha Tin, and it usually features a quality field of runners from all over the world. The 2000m Group 1 race was first run in 1988 and has since attracted world-wide fame and a string of champion winners.
Names such as Jim And Tonic, Fantastic Light, Designs On Rome and 2015 winner A Shin Hikari have graced the Cup in recent history, and since 1990 it has become a race open to horses all over the world. Come 1992, horses from United States, Canada and Japan were allowed to run in the Hong Kong Cup, and that traditional has stood the test of time.
2025 Hong Kong Cup Odds
Betting odds for the 2025 Hong Kong Cup are currently unavailable.
Best bookmakers for Hong Kong Cup betting
All of HorseBetting’s recommended online bookmakers run markets for the Hong Kong Cup each year, including all-in and futures options. Check out the licensed betting sites below to find the best odds for the 2025 Hong Kong Cup.
Best bookmakers for Hong Kong Cup betting
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Latest Hong Kong Cup News
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2025 Hong Kong Cup Final Field
HorseBetting will update this page when the 2025 Hong Kong Cup final field is released.
Previous Hong Kong Cup Field
No. Silks Horse Trainer Jockey Barrier Weight 1 
Romantic Warrior Danny Shum James McDonald 1 57kg 2 Spirit Dancer Richard Fahey Oisin Orr 10 57kg 3 Straight Arron Ricky Yiu Brenton Avdulla 4 57kg 4 Tastiera Noriyuki Hori Damian Lane 7 57kg 5 Calif Carlos & Yann Lerner Adrie de Vries 8 57kg 6 Nimble Nimbus Ricky Yiu Andrea Atzeni 2 57kg 7 The Foxes Andrew Balding Oisin Murphy 11 57kg 8 Encountered David Hall Hugh Bowman 6 57kg 9 Liberty Island Mitsumasa Nakauchida Yuga Kawada 5 55.5kg 10 Content Aidan O’Brien Ryan Moore 9 54kg 11 Wingspan Aidan O’Brien Wayne Lordan 3 54kg No. Silks Horse Trainer Jockey Barrier Weight 1 Luxembourg Aidan O’Brien Ryan Moore 10 126lb 2 Romantic Warrior Danny Shum James McDonald 7 126lb 3 Prognosis Mitsumasa Nakauchida Yuga Kawada 6 126lb 4 Rousham Hiroyasu Tanaka Damien Lane 11 126lb 5 Hishi Iguazu Noriyuki Hori Joao Moreira 2 126lb 6 Money Catcher Derek Leung Frankie Lor 8 126lb 7 Straight Arron Casper Fownes Vincent Ho 3 126lb 8 Sword Point Frankie Lor Zac Purton 9 126lb 9 Nimble Nimbus Ricky Yiu Andrea Atzeni 4 126lb 10 Champion Dragon Tony Cruz Alexis Badel 5 126lb 11 Horizon Dore Patrice Cottier Mickael Barzalona 1 123lb No. Silks Horse Trainer Jockey Barrier Weight 1 Panthalassa Yoshito Yahagi Yoshida Yutaka 8 126lb 2 Romantic Warrior Danny Shum James McDonald 7 126lb 3 Jack D’or Kenichi Fujioka Take Yutaka 2 126lb 4 Order Of Australia Aidan O’Brien Ryan Moore 11 126lb 5 Russian Emperor Douglas Whyte Blake Shinn 5 126lb 6 Danon The Kid Takayuki Yasuda Kitamura Yuichi 6 126lb 7 Tourbillon Diamond Danny Shum Hugh Bowman 12 126lb 8 Ka Ying Star Tony Cruz Luke Ferraris 9 126lb 9 Money Catcher Frankie Lor Silvestre De Sousa 4 126lb 10 Savvy Nine Douglas Whyte Karis Teetan 10 126lb 11 Geoglyph Tetsuya Kimura William Buick 3 123lb 12 Lei Papale Tomokazu Takano Joao Moreira 1 122lb
2024 Hong Kong Cup result
1st – Romantic Warrior (-1000)
2nd – Liberty Island (-166.67)
3rd – Tastiera (+115)
Recent Hong Kong Cup winners
- In the end, history was achieved in the most impressive way imaginable. Romantic Warrior became the first horse to win the Group 1 Hong Kong Cup (2000m) three times in a manner befitting his status as his homeland’s pre-eminent equine ambassador. So easily did the six-year-old defy an array of international competition, in fact, that jockey James McDonald was able to stand up in his irons and salute the packed Sha Tin grandstands as he passed the line a length and a half clear of Japan’s Liberty Island. The heavy favourite jumped slickly from the gates and McDonald was able to allow him to settle into an easy rhythm in fourth place as Irish filly Wingspan set the pace. Another Japanese challenger, Tastiera, had tracked in second and really provided the only competition to Romantic Warrior as they turned for home in a race very few got into. Liberty Island edged past her compatriot in the closing stages but the winner had already wrapped up the contest with a quite stunning demonstration of power, speed and grace.
- Romantic Warrior put himself in the pantheon of Hong Kong greats, producing a huge effort to hold off Luxembourg and Hishi Iguazu in a heart-stopping climax to the Group 1 Hong Kong Cup (2000m) at Sha Tin on Sunday. Just 43 days after a historic win in Australia’s premier weight-for-age race, the Cox Plate (2040m), Romantic Warrior looked to have burned off his rivals with a burst of acceleration at the 400-metre mark, before answering jockey James McDonald’s every call as the race came to the boil deep inside the final 200m.
- They came to bow down to the old king and left saluting a powerful new prince of Hong Kong racing as Romantic Warrior left a high-class global field trailing in his wake at Sha Tin with a thunderous performance in the Group 1 Hong Kong Cup (2000m).Content to settle back into sixth as Ka Ying Star and Money Catcher pressed the leader passing halfway, James McDonald asked Romantic Warrior to improve on the outer rounding the home turn and Shum took a deep breath and moved his multi coloured glasses to the top of his forehead. And then, as Romantic Warrior loomed up to challenge with just over 300m to run, the winning trainer Danny Shum finally let his pent-up emotions bubble to the surface. A deep-throated “Good Boy” rang around the side of the Sha Tin stand as McDonald asked his mount to deliver the killer blow and Romantic Warrior didn’t hesitate for a second, powering four and a half lengths clear take over from globetrotting French star Jim And Tonic (1999) as the widest margin winner in Hong Kong Cup history in a winning time of 1m 59.70s.
- Loves Only You set the perfect seal on one of international racing’s most colourful careers with a spellbinding success in the Group 1 Hong Kong Cup. Sent off the $2.60 market leader, Loves Only You jumped alertly from stall four and was soon travelling keenly just behind a steady early pace set by Mac Swiney, Ka Ying Star and the wide-running Bolshoi Ballet. Russian Emperor made a bold move to hit the front as a packing field jostled for position early in the home straight but last season’s BMW Hong Kong Derby (2000m) runner-up edged right with his tongue lolling out as he did so, placing Loves Only You in a pocket on the inner at a crucial point. Hishi Iguazu produced a storming run from the rear on the outside soon after under Joao Moreira to draw level briefly well inside the final furlong. However, Kawada had Loves Only You in fully cry by this stage and the five-year-old repeated her Del Mar heroics, quickening valiantly between horses under pressure to lead close home and beat her fellow Japanese raider by a short head.
- Having finished fourth in the Hong Kong Mile in 2019, connections of Normcore opted to stretch the mare out the 2000m for a Hong Kong Cup and it proved to be a winning combination. Having settled in the second half of the field, Zac Purton timed his run perfectly aboard the Japanese mare, with the big grey prevailing over the final 100m.
- Win Bright was able to hold out a fast finishing Magic Wand in a thrilling finish to the 2019 Hong Kong Cup. The pair had paired off in the running just off the pace and looked to both be travelling smoothly when cornering for the run to the judge. Both looked to have been struggling with 200 metres to go, but it was the Japanese galloper Win Bright who was too strong for his rivals over the concluding stages.
- Glorious Forever completed a clean sweep for the Hong Kong trainers at the 2018 HKIR after a brilliant front-running ride by Silvester de Sousa. Spearing out to an early lead it seemed like a foregone conclusion that the swoopers would descend and eventually run the leader down. It wasn’t the case however as de Sousa hugged the rails and under a vigorous ride found enough in the latter stages to hold off the fast-finishing favourite Dierdre.
- Time Warp was not well favoured in the market heading into the Hong Kong Cup in 2017 but under a brilliant ride from champion jockey Zac Purton, the horse duly delivered. Taking to the front early in the piece Time Warp produced a powerful and sustained run from the front before kicking away in the straight to win by close to three lengths from Werther.
- Maurice was having its last start before heading off to stud and it made a great impact on its way out. The Japanese star didn’t jump well with Ryan Moore in the saddle and it was giving A Shin Hikari many lengths into the home straight, but the champion reeled it in quick smart before running away with the victory at the odds-on price of $1.70. Read report here.
- A Shin Hikari burst onto the world scene when winning the Hong Kong Cup in 2015. The Japanese-trained runner was the fourth Japanese winner of the Hong Kong Cup and the first since Agnes Digital won in 2001. A Shin Hikari paid $26 for the win in what was considered a big upset. It set a strong pace in front and it held on to score by a length in a race record time.
- Designs Of Rome was a popular winner in 2014 for trainer John Moore and champion jockey Joao Moreira. The son of Holy Roman Emperor was a stylish winner over the likes of Military Attack and Australian runner Criterion. In its usual style, Designs On Rome settle at the rear of the field before producing a big finishing burst down the outside.
- Akeed Mofeed wasn’t one of the most popular Hong Kong Cup victors in recent history, but the Richard Gibson-trained runner was too good for its rivals in 2013 and it would later represent Hong Kong at the Dubai World Cup. It paid a short price on the tote with bookmakers when holding out Japanese entrant Tokei Halo and Cirrus des Aigles.
Hong Kong Cup past winners list
| Hong Kong Cup Past Winners | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Horse | Jockey | Trainer |
| 2024 | Romantic Warrior | James McDonald | Danny Shum |
| 2023 | Romantic Warrior | James McDonald | Danny Shum |
| 2022 | Romantic Warrior | James McDonald | Danny Shum |
| 2021 | Loves Only You | Yuga Kawada | Yoshito Yahagi |
| 2020 | Normcore | Zac Purton | Kiyoshi Hagiwara |
| 2019 | Win Bright | Masami Matsuoka | Yoshihiro Hatakeyama |
| 2018 | Glorious Forever | Silvestre de Sousa | Frankie Lor |
| 2017 | Time Warp | Zac Purton | Tony Cruz |
| 2016 | Maurice | Ryan Moore | Moriyuki Hori |
| 2015 | A Shin Hikari | Yutaka Take | Masanori Sakaguchi |
| 2014 | Designs On Rome | Joao Moreira | John Moore |
| 2013 | Akeed Mofeed | Douglas Whyte | Richard Gibson |
| 2012 | California Memory | Matthew Chadwick | Tony Cruz |
| 2011 | California Memory | Matthew Chadwick | Tony Cruz |
| 2010 | Snow Fairy | Ryan Moore | Ed Dunlop |
| 2009 | Vision d’Etat | Olivier Peslier | Eric Libaud |
| 2008 | Eagle Mountain | Kevin Shea | Mike de Kock |
| 2007 | Ramonti | Frankie Dettori | Saeed Bin Suroor |
| 2006 | Pride | Christophe Lemaire | Alain de Royer-Dupre |
| 2005 | Vengeance Of Rain | Anthony Delpech | David Ferraris |
| 2004 | Alexander Goldrun | Kevin Manning | Jim Bolger |
| 2003 | Falbrav | Frankie Dettori | Luca Cumani |
| 2002 | Precision | Michael Kinane | David Oughton |
| 2001 | Agnes Digital | Hirofumi Shii | Toshiaki Shirai |
| 2000 | Fantastic Light | Frankie Dettori | Saaed Bin Suroor |
| 1999 | Jim And Tonic | Gerald Mosse | Francois Doumen |
| 1998 | Midnight Bet | Hirofumi Shii | Toshiaki Shirai |
| 1997 | Val’s Prince | Cash Asmussen | James Picou |
| 1996 | First Island | Michael Hills | Geoff Wragg |
| 1995 | Fujiyama Kenzan | Masayoshi Ebina | Hideyuki Mori |
| 1994 | State Taj | Damien Oliver | James Riley |
| 1993 | Motivation | John Marshall | John Moore |
| 1992 | Romanee Conti | Greg Childs | Laurie Laxon |
| 1991 | River Verdon | Gerald Mosse | David Hill |
| 1990 | Kessem | Kevin Moses | Brian Smith |
| 1989 | Grey Invader | Gary Stewart | Alvin Clark |
| 1989 | Colonial Chief | Tony Cruz | Ivan Allan |
| 1988 | Flying Dancer | Bartie Leisher | Brian Kan |
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