Less than 100 year after Captain Cook first set eyes on Australia, Tasmania ran its first Hobart Cup.

Originally over the two mile journey, Ella, carrying 7 stone 2 lbs, won the 1875 Hobart Cup.

Strop and Spark in the subsequent two years where the only other two mile winners of the race, before it dropped back to 13 furlongs (2600m) for eight years.

In the subsequent 120 odd years the race has been run over (approximately) the 2400m journey, although in 2001 was run over 2100m and last year over 2200m.

That distance remains today.

It's not the oldest race in the state, though, with the Launceston Cup (2400m) beginning 10 years earlier.

In the 130 years of the history of the Hobart Cup there have been 18 gallopers to claim the Hobart Cup/Launceston Cup double.

Interestingly the first three winners of the race - Ella, Strop and Spark, all won the double, while just one, Brallos in 1976 and 1997, won both doubles twice.

More recently local galloper St Andrews won the two feature races in 2002 while in 2004 Victorian galloper Zacielo was successful in both races.

St. Andrews, prepared by George Blacker at Longford, featured heavily in most of Tasmania's feature races.

In 2002 he won the Tasmanian Stakes before finishing runner-up in the Devonport Cup.

He then went on to win both the Hobart and Launceston Cups before a spell.

The following year he tackled the same races and after finishing third in the Hobart Cup again won the Launceston Cup.

Back again in 2004 he finished fourth in the Hobart Cup but failed to finish in the Launceston Cup and was retired from the track.

In 2003 Jeune's Mark ran out a soft winner of the Hobart Cup for Tony McEvoy, then at the helm of Lindsay Park while David Hayes was in Hong Kong.

After drawing barrier 17 of 17 jockey Stephen Baster took the stayer to the front and was never headed, winning by 2.5 lengths in what was a good form race.

The third palcegetters, St Andrews, subsequently won the Launceston Cup while Stoway, in the Gai Waterhouse stable in Sydney, returned home to later win the Group 3 Hawkesbury Cup.

Sixth placed Dartington, in the Charlie Goggin stables, was a next start winner in the Listed St Leger Stakes (2100m).

In 2004, Peter Moody took the punt Zabeel gelding Zacielo would measure up in Tasmania after coming form obscurity in just one campaign.

On the mainland the gelding was a second-up winner of a Class 1, Class 2, Class 6 then brought up four wins on end in open company.

Moody took him to Tasmania for the feature races where he then won the Hobart Cup by almost two lengths from Dream Quest then brought up six wins on end in the Launceston Cup.

Saturday Fever, who finished seventh behind him in Hobart, then wen to Sydney and won the Group 3 Manion Cup.

2005 was a local victory for the Jason Clifford stable with Our Dashing Dane.

The gelding finished runner-up behind South Australian galloper Dakasha in the Tasmanian St Leger before turning the tables to win the Hobart Cup by almost two lengths, defeating Victorian Under The Bridge and Surge Of Power.

Dakasha, prepared by Leon Macdonald at Morphettville, could finish only fifth in the Hobart Cup but would extract revenge in the Launceston Cup next start.

Victoria trainer Darren Weir target Tasmania's feature races with handy stayer True Courser last year and pulled off the first leg, winning the Hobart Cup by 1.5 lengths over Di's Angel and Petite Oiseau.

He struggled under his big weight in the Launceston Cup, though, managing only eighth.

Precise Timing, who had journeyed all the way from Taree in the mid-north coast of New South Wales, could finish only seventh in Hobart but ran on strongly with firmer footing at Launceston to win the Cup.

The prolific Cups winner returned home to finish fourth in the Gosford Cup and has since also won the Lismore Cup.

There has been one runner to win the Hobart Cup then go on to win the Melbourne Cup later in the year and that was Piping Lane in 1972.

More recently, though, with massive increases in prizemoney, excellent facilities and convenient travel options trainers from the mainland are finding the Tasmanian carnival an attractive option for their horses.

Big stables like David Hayes, Lee Freedman, Gai Waterhouse and Aquanita are specifically targeting the Hobart Cup and that trend looks set to continue with excellent interest in this year's carnival.