The LONGINES Hong Kong Mile, initially the Hong Kong Invitation Bowl, was inaugurated in 1991 to mark Hong Kong's staging of that year's Asian Racing Conference. Ireland's Additional Risk won that first edition for trainer Dermot Weld and jockey Mick Kinane.

The race attained international Group 3 status in 1994, and was further upgraded to Group 2 the following year. The UK-trained Docksider won the race the first time that it was held in its now familiar guise, the Hong Kong Mile over 1600m - that was in 1999. It was upgraded to International Group 1 status when New Zealand super mare Sunline took the race in 2000.

The outstanding champion Good Ba Ba has the distinction of being the only horse to have won this or any other HKIR contest three times. The great miler prevailed in 2007, 2008 and 2009. Golden Sixty, Hong Kong's brilliant son of Medaglia d'Oro prevailed in the 2020 edition of the event. Japan's Horse of the Year Maurice was the winner of this race in 2015. Another top Japanese miler Admire Mars became only the second three-year-old winner, following Additional Risk, when he won this race in 2019. The race carries a total purse of HK$26 million in 2021.