Korea Cup (horse racing)
| Class | GI • IGIII |
|---|---|
| Location | LetsRun Park Seoul Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea |
| Inaugurated | September 11, 2016 |
| Race type | Thoroughbred |
| Sponsor | OBS |
| Website | https://www.koreacup.kr |
| Race information | |
| Distance | 1800 meters (about 9 furlongs / 1+1⁄10 miles) |
| Record | London Town, 1:50.6 |
| Surface | Dirt |
| Track | Left-handed |
| Qualification | 3-year-olds & up, Thoroughbreds (safety factor: 16 horses; up to four foreign-trained starters are allowed in the race) |
| Weight | 3-year-old 55 kg / 4-year-old & up 57 kg Allowances
|
| Purse | ₩ 1,600,000,000 (as of 2025) 1st: ₩ 800,000,000 2nd: ₩ 320,000,000 3rd ₩ 160,000,000 |
The Korea Cup (KG1; Korean: 코리아컵) is a Group 3 horse race in South Korea held annually in September at LetsRun Park Seoul in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province. It is a flat race run over a distance of 1800 meters (about 1+1⁄10 miles, or 9 furlongs) with a maximum of 16 horses.
First run in 2016, the Korea Cup was created by the Korea Racing Authority (KRA) in order to strengthen the international economic power of Korean horse racing and promote exchanges with world-class horse racing countries. It is often one of the most attended races of the year hosted by the KRA, regularly reaching 30,000 people in attendance. Along with the Korea Sprint, it is also the only international grade race hosted in Korea.
While this race is the youngest among Korea's graded stakes, it carries significant weight. inaugurated to prove Korea's readiness for international competition, it boasts the nation's highest purse of roughly 1.6 billion KRW (110,000 USD) to attract top contenders and validate its status. In 2019, the race was temporarily converted to a domestic event due to the Japan–South Korea trade dispute, while in 2020 and 2021, it was cancelled due to COVID-19. The race was upgraded to International Graded (IGIII) status in 2022 along with the Korea Sprint, and was designated as a 'Win and You're In' challenge race for the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile in 2024.