January Cup Preview, Tips, Runners & Trends

2025 January Cup Preview

Scheduled to take place in January of each year at the Happy Valley racecourse in Hong Kong is the January Cup. This Group 3 is the highlight of the flat season at Happy Valley, the race is run on the turf over a distance of 1,800m (1m1f) with the race being open to runners aged three or older and rated 90 or higher.

January Cup Information:

• January Cup Past Winners
• January Cup Trainer Statistics
• January Cup Jockey Statistics

We also have a dedicated Happy Valley tips page that will cover this race as well as all of the other races on the day of the race, see which runners the OLBG racing tipsters are predicting to win this race and the others on the cards.

How competitive is the January 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 122%. The race in 2017 was a race that was most in the bookie's favour with an over-round of 125%, whilst on average over the last 10 renewals of the January Cup, the over-round has been 123%, which means the bookie expects to pay out £100 for every £123 which is bet.

January Cup Trends:

• 2025 January Cup Trends
• January Cup Trend Analysis

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 January Cup next time out then you would have backed a total of 1 winner. Backing all 9 runners who have been out since to win at SP next time out, would have returned an LSP of -4.65. Ahead of the 2025 January 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 2018 renewal when Eagle Way from John Moore under the guidance of Zac Purton, won in a time of 1:50.14, whilst at the other end of the spectrum, Money Catcher, trained by F C Lor and ridden by Silvestre De Sousa set the quickest time of 1:47.94 in the 2023 renewal.

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

1. Money Catcher (1:47.94) in 2023
2. Doctor Geoff (1:48.10) in 2020
3. Zebrowski (1:48.25) in 2022

January Cup Past Winners

Here are the January 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 January Cup as well as the jockey is also displayed along with the starting price the horse was sent off.

Where have the winning runners come from?

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

• HK: 10 winners with an additional 19 placings from 103 runners
• MAC: 0 winners with an additional 1 placing from 1 runner
• AUS: 0 winners with an additional 0 placings from 1 runner

January Cup Trainer Statistics

The leading trainer in the January Cup over the last 10 renewals is F C Lor who has won the race three times with those three winners coming from Simply Brilliant (2019), Money Catcher (2023) and Happy Together (2024). The only other trainer to have recorded multiple wins in the January Cup is John Moore (2 wins). There is one trainer who has not had the best of times in the January Cup, A S Cruz has sent a total of 17 runners to the race without recording any wins.

Here are some of the top January 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):

January Cup Jockey Statistics

There are two leading jockeys in the January Cup over the last 10 renewals with both Alexis Badel and Zac Purton who have both won the race two times. Alexis Badel's winners have been with Simply Brilliant (2019) and Happy Together (2024). Zac Purton winners have been with Harbour Master (2017) and Eagle Way (2018).

Here are some of the top January 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):

2025 January Cup Trends

Favourites finishing positions (oldest to latest): 3, 10, (3, 4, 9), 4, 4, 3, 2, 1, 1, 3

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 (63%) - Made 2 - 13 starts (Going)
• 10 / 10 (64%) - Made 4 - 18 starts (Hcps)
• 10 / 10 (64%) - Made 6 - 24 starts (Career)
• 10 / 10 (68%) - No bigger than 37/2
• 10 / 10 (68%) - No bigger than 62/5 (Career Win)
• 10 / 10 (71%) - Had 1 - 11 placings (Career)
• 10 / 10 (74%) - No bigger than 11/1 (Last Win)
• 10 / 10 (77%) - No bigger than 17/1 (Debut)
• 10 / 10 (78%) - Within the first 8 of the market
• 10 / 10 (78%) - Not in a G1-2/LST/Cl3/Cl5-6 (Last Win)
• 10 / 10 (80%) - Off a break of 18 - 59 days
• 10 / 10 (83%) - Achieved an RPR of 97+ (Last 3)
• 10 / 10 (85%) - Achieved an RPR of 91+ (LTO)
• 10 / 10 (86%) - Carried 122 - 133lbs (LTO)
• 10 / 10 (87%) - Achieved an RPR of 98+ Going)

Remember to use the trends listed above along with the Happy Valley racing predictions to see if you can find the winner of the January Cup. if you are unaware of what trends and statistics are, how they can be used etc then head over to the OLBG Betting School and read this Stats And Trends article which will make everything much clearer.

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 January Cup by adding a tip on the race here.

January Cup Trend Analysis

The trend factor which had produced 5+ winners and shows the best LSP, an LSP of +22.20 is when runners wore no equipment. The worst performing factor that has failed to produce a single winner is when runners had a furthest trip won of 1m2f, when backing these the trend shows a record of 0-24.

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

• 2024: Winner in 3 (1,9) [12 Runners]
• 2023: Winner in 1 (7,6) [11 Runners]
• 2022: Winner in 3 (5,9) [9 Runners]
• 2021: Winner in 2 (10,3) [10 Runners]
• 2020: Winner in 3 (9,4) [9 Runners]

The course which has produced the most winners of the January Cup is Sha Tin, there has been a total number of 7 winners of this race who ran at Sha Tin last time out. The next best course which has produced the second most winners is Happy Valley, there has been a total number of 3 winners of this race who ran at Happy Valley last time out.

Looking over the past renewals, there is only one stallion whose offspring have produced multiple winners of the January Cup, that stallion Savabeel has produced 2 winners (2022,2016).

Looking at the winning odds over the last 10 renewals, the biggest-priced winner was Flame Hero in 2016, winning for L Ho at odds of 185/10 under the guidance of K C Leung. Looking at the runners at the head of the market over the last 10 renewals there have been 2 winning favourites in the race. Whilst we wait for the 2025 January Cup remember you can get daily racing predictions from the top racing tipsters on the best racing tipsters page. All figures and trends above, such as the horse's previous runs are based on the information that is available on the racing post.

We are blessed with an excellent team of specialists and experts at OLBG. Contributing to creating and maintaining this 2025 January Cup Preview are at hand, Andy Powell and Darren Brett. 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.

Darren Brett

Tipster competition manager

A seasoned veteran in the industry, Darren's profound knowledge and unparalleled expertise in horse racing truly come to the fore during the National Hunt season. In addition to his contribution to our Horse racing previews here on OLBG, he also holds the reins for grand-national-guide.co.uk

Andy Powell

Content editor

Andy has one of the greatest horse racing results and ratings databases known to man, all of his own creation. with 20 years of collating and following form, ratings and trends, he adds another layer of knowledge to our race previews.