The
Wellington Cup was over 2 miles and he won it in a world-record time of 3:16.2. To do this he beat a top class field including Highland Rebel, who finished second and also broke the previous world record, and champion race mare Honour Me, who finished third. This world record still stands as an imperial world record today. To put this into perspective, the record holder of the two-mile
Melbourne Cup is
Rain Lover, with a time of 3.19.1, set in 1968. The Melbourne Cup distance was changed to 3200 meters (about 20 metres shorter) in 1972, and the record is held by Kingston Rule at 3.16.3. The equivalent metric time for Il Tempo's run would be about 1.2 secs quicker than for two miles, or 3.15.00. In April 2006 the Japanese champion
Deep Impact won the 3200m Tenno Sho (Spring) in 3.13.4, smashing the world record for that distance. ==See also==