Lucia Valentina and Damien Oliver speed to victory at the Longines Queen Elizabeth Stakes

Sydney (Australia) / Saint-Imier (Switzerland), 9 April 2016 – On Saturday 9 April 2016, the Swiss watchmaker Longines timed the amazing victory of Lucia Valentina on Damien Oliver at the Longines Queen Elizabeth Stakes. The watchmaker also featured as the Official Timekeeper and Watch of both the Royal Randwick racecourse and Australian Turf Club. The Longines Queen Elizabeth Stakes raceday was attended by Longines Ambassador of Elegance Aishwarya Rai Bachchan who presented Petra Nolan the Longines Prize for Elegance.

On Saturday 9 April 2016, Lucia Valentina and Damien Oliver won one of the richest races in the world set to draw runners from right around the globe, the Longines Queen Elizabeth Stakes. The Swiss watch brand Longines has the honor to lend its name to this race, as well as be the Official Timekeeper and Watch of the Royal Randwick racecourse and the Australian Turf Club. The winning owner, trainer and jockey were awarded an elegant Longines watch from the hands of Longines Ambassador of Elegance Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. Another elegant Longines watch was presented as the Longines Prize for Elegance by the Longines Ambassador to praise Petra Nolan from Sydney’s highly distinguished outfit during the raceday.

As the Official Watch of the Longines Queen Elizabeth Stakes, Longines showcased a timepiece from the Longines DolceVita collection, illustrating contemporary elegance of the Longines watchmaking brand worldwide. The watch is cased in steel, decorated with diamonds and featuring a silver-coloured “flinqué” dial adorned with painted Roman numerals. This timepiece is mounted on a red leather strap.

The Longines Queen Elizabeth Stakes holds a special place in Longines illustrious history in equestrian timekeeping dating back to 1878 with the creation of a chronograph, which was used at New York racetracks three years later. It was indeed during this raceday that the Swiss watch brand launched the latest and game-changing development for timekeeping and tracking technology in thoroughbred racing: the Longines Positioning System (LPS). The innovative new LPS inaugurates totally new data-handling dimensions and deepens the understanding of the races.

More generally, Longines involvement in equestrian sports includes today flat racing, show jumping, eventing, endurance, driving and dressage. In these disciplines, the watch maker is associated with international institutions and events, lends its name to world’s rankings, as well as awards titles and distinctions to outstanding athletes and personalities of the equestrian world. Finally, the close relations that Longines has with this world also relate to the common values of elegance, tradition and performance.

Longines has been based at Saint-Imier, Switzerland, since 1832. It has generations of experience as the official timekeeper at world championships and as a partner of international sports federations. Over the years, the brand has built strong and long-lasting links with the equestrian sports. Longines is a member of The Swatch Group S.A., the world’s leading manufacturer of horological products. With an excellent reputation for creating refined timepieces, the brand, whose emblem is the winged hourglass, has outlets in over 150 countries.