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The Race History of the Perth Cup run at Ascot on Saturday has changed with the reduction in journey.

Rogan Josh was defeated in it but won a reasonably important race later in 1999. Who takes the 2019 Perth Cup (2400m) at Ascot on Saturday?

2019 PERTH CUP - RACE HISTORY AND BACKGROUND

The Perth Cup is a Group 2 race for the stayers conducted by Perth Racing at Ascot.

The Perth Cup was first run in 1887 and was won by First Prince. The race is usually run on New Year’s Day depending on if it suits on a weekend but like 2016 has been run on 31 December too.

In 2019 the Perth Cup will be run on the following Saturday.

It was one of the famous two mile races in Australia until 2009 when reduced to a mile and a half.

The Perth Cup is run over 2400m under handicap conditions. It was a G1 until 1993 and has been a G2 since.

Leviathan Perth owner Bob Peters has owned four of the last seven winners of the Perth Cup. He also owned four of the first five over the line in 2016.

In the January 2016 running, Delicacy put up an amazing effort to win but after the race owner Bob Peters confirmed Delicacy had been retired after suffering severe tears to both front tendons in the run and would join Peters' broodmare band.

1999 saw King Of Saxony amazingly win the race first up at two miles. In that race he defeated Rogan Josh. Of course that horse Rogan Josh was transferred to Bart Cummings and by the end of the year had won the Melbourne Cup.

The 2008 running of the Perth Cup was marred by a bad fall involving seven horses after only 500m on the first lap. Damien Oliver was able to win on Cats Fun.

The 2019 Perth Cup is worth $500,000.

Notable winners of the Perth Cup include Raconteur (1953), Fairetha (1958,1959), Fait Accompli (1970, 1972), Dayana (1973), Magistrate (1981, 1982), Bianco Lady (1983), Mirror Magic (1992), Field Officer (1993), Crying Game (1996), King Of Saxony (1999), Black Tom (2006), Guyno (2009), Real Love (2015) and Delicacy (2016).

The 2018 Perth Cup was won by Material Man from Pounamu and Royal Star.