The King's Cup was first run in 1927, inaugurated by the
King of the United Kingdom and
Dominions,
King George V, to celebrate the visit to Australia of the then
Duke and
Duchess of York (later
George VI and
Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother). The king would provide the trophy each year. The participating jockey clubs decided that it should be a
weight-for-age race (a
Group 1 race). The race was especially prestigious in the years before World War II. In May 1951,
Shannon, ridden by
Darby Munro On the death of George V, George VI advised that he would continue to provide the trophy for the race. The race lapsed after the death of George VI in February 1952, but in April that year the
Australian Jockey Club in
Sydney received permission to run a Queen's Cup.
Queen Elizabeth II would continue the tradition, providing the trophy, with a prize worth £2000. ridden by 19-year-old
Aboriginal jockey
Merv Maynard, beat the two favourites, champion horses
Hydrogen and
Dalray, both ridden by experienced jockeys, Keith Nuttal and
Darby Munro. Maynard's only regret was that he did not get to meet the then Princess Elizabeth, later
Queen Elizabeth II, who was, with husband
Prince Philip,
Duke of Edinburgh, scheduled to hand out the trophies at the event. However, en route to their Australian engagements, the couple were visiting several African countries, and it was there that they received the news of the death of her father,
George VI, so they had to return to England. The young princess would remember the win, however, and on a state visit forty years later asked to be introduced to Maynard. at
Eagle Farm Racecourse,
Brisbane It continued to be run in rotation until around 1985, when it appears to have been run at Randwick in that year and then again in 1988. It was run at
Morphettville Racecourse in
Adelaide, South Australia, until 1990, when it was run at
Cheltenham Park Racecourse (described as "a new race in Adelaide called the Queen's Cup" by
The Canberra Times), where it was also referred to as the SAJC Queen's Cup. In 1992 the Queen's Cup, run in February at Randwick, was referred to as a
Group 3 race, run over . The winning horse was Aquidity, trained by
Tommy Smith, and Queen Elizabeth, who presented the trophies, and the Duke of Edinburgh were in attendance. In 1993 the race was run at in October at Flemington, worth and run over . It was again referred to as a Group 3 race. Since 2000 the race has continued to be run in rotating venues, but not held in 2009 or 2014, and with breaks in 2020 and 2021 owing to the
COVID-19 pandemic in Australia. In 2022 it was held by the
Australian Turf Club on 19 March at
Rosehill Gardens Racecourse in western Sydney, entitled "Queen's Cup (N E Manion Cup)" (). ==1934 and 1948 racebooks==