The first race meeting was held on February 23 and 25, 1843, and the inaugural race was called the Singapore Cup. It offered prizemoney of $150 and was won by a horse called COLONEL.

It is not known how many Singapore Cups were staged.

In 1999, Singapore Turf Club (SNTC) re-introduced the race to mark the first ever night race meeting at the new Kranji racecourse.

The first running was staged over 2,400m, won by BEYOND EXPECTATION, ridden by J Saimee and trained by Malcolm Thwaites.

The SNTC then shortened the distance to 2,000m the next season. Saimee and Thwaites were again successful, this time with OUZO.

In 2001, the SNTC opened the race to international entries with an increased prizemoney of S$1 million. The race was renamed the Singapore Classic.

Four overseas horses came for the event but two were withdrawn at the eleventh hour. German entries SILVANO and CAITANO made it a 1-2 for the foreign contingent. The winner won in course record time.

In 2002, the distance was shorted to 1,800m and local hero PALACE LINE easily defeated overseas raiders LETHALS LADY and HAPPY DIAMOND.

In 2003, COME SEE YOU scored a narrow win for Hong Kong based Singapore trainer Ivan Allan.