The Victoria Cup is the premier middle distance harness race of Australia. Conducted over 2575m, rather than the staying distance of over 3000m or the sprint distance of under 2000m, the Victoria Cup was run at the Melbourne Showgrounds up until 1975, when it was shifted to Moonee Valley. In 2009 the SEW Eurodrive Victoria Cup will be run at Harness Racing Victoria's new venue, Tabcorp Park at Melton. The race has been part of the Australasian Grand Circuit since 1987. Conducted in February from 1987 to 2003, the race is now conducted over two nights in December, alongside the Australasian Trotting Grand Prix.
The race record of 1.56.7 was set by Chokin NZ in 1994 when the race was run over 2380m. Since the race shifted to 2570m or 2575m since a track upgrade, Double Identity in December 2003 held the record of a mile rate of 1.57.2 over the 2575m trip until Melpark Major's track record breaking performance of 1:55.8 in last year's event.