Canberra Cup
The Canberra Cup is a Listed race run by the Canberra Racing Club at Thoroughbred Park in Canberra.
The Canberra Cup was first run in 1926 on the old Acton racecourse that now lies under the waters of Lake Burley Griffin.
The Canberra Cup was an annual spring event run on the Acton course over a variety of distances until the opening of the current racecourse in 1962.
The Canberra Cup was run over a mile until 1952 when it was lengthened to 8¾ furlongs in 1953 and 1954. From 1955 to 1962 the race was run over nine furlongs and went to 10 furlongs with the move to the new racecourse.
The Canberra Cup was run over 10 furlongs (2000m) from 1963 until 1975 when it was extended to 2400m from 1976-1995.
Since 1996 the Canberra Cup has been has been run over 2000m and has been a Listed Race since 1984. It is run under quality handicap conditions.
There were no runnings of the Canberra Cup from 1930 to 1935 due to the depression and during the war years from 1941 to 1945. The Canberra Cup was also cancelled in 1947 and 2006 (track reconstruction) and 2011 when it was moved from its traditional spring date to join the 'Super Sunday' Black Opal Stakes program in the Autumn.
There have been four dual winners of the Canberra Cup (Spec, Crazy Notion, Reingard, Macknuckle) but Super Impose, the eight-time Group One winner of two Doncaster Miles, two Epsom Handicaps and the WS Cox Plate, ranks as the most famous winner in 1992.
It was a local win in 2018 when Almost Court led all the way for Barbara Joseph and Paul Jones.
Samadoubt won in 2019 and then in the Spring would win a G1 Winx Stakes and G2 Chelmsford Stakes.
Mugatoo would go on to win a Premiers Cup and Newcastle Cup then be close up in a Metrop and a Cox Plate before taking an All-Star Mile.
The form from the 2023 race stood up so well with winner Arapaho taking the G1 Tancred and runner up Explosive Jack the G1 Sydney Cup.
Other notable winners include Nicholas John, Foxseal, Iron Horse, Over The Ocean, Native Neptune, Big Butch, Rajamah, Combat, Hot Land, Algonquin Club, Free Enterprise, Maltese Beauty, Padfoot Charlie, Lord Warden, Taihape, So Assertive, Forgive, Arc-En-Ciel, Ponderosa and High Style.
The 2024 Canberra Cup was run for $250,000 in prizemoney.
The late TJ Smith is the leading Canberra Cup trainer with six wins (Hot Land, Free Enterprise, Over The Ocean, Combat, Rajamah, Sir Mountable). Smith's daughter Gai Waterhouse has joined him winning the Canberra Cup six times too since 1995 with Jay Bee Cee, Regal Touch, So Assertive, Hippopus, Dark Eyes and Sacramento – the latter two with Adrian Bott.
The 2024 Canberra Cup was won by Almania from Redstone Well and So United.