St. Moritz Snow Polo & Racing

The White Turf meeting at St. Moritz is one of horse racing's most extraordinary and iconic events — flat races run on the frozen surface of the Lake of St. Moritz at an altitude of 1,856 metres, every February since 1907. The event combines standard flat horse racing (three Group races, including the Grand Prix of St. Moritz) with ski joring — a uniquely Alpine competition in which skiers are towed behind galloping horses — and takes place in the setting of Switzerland's most celebrated winter resort, with the snow-covered Engadin valley mountains providing a backdrop unlike any other in world sport. The White Turf meeting draws approximately 35,000 spectators across three Sundays and attracts some of Europe's best horses in the preparation of the flat racing season, as the February timing places it precisely in the gap between the end of the European all-weather season and the beginning of turf racing. The prize money — supported by luxury sponsorships reflecting St. Moritz's positioning at the apex of Swiss and European winter resort culture — has historically attracted a higher quality of horse than the venue's unique conditions might suggest. The track itself is created fresh each February by the St. Moritz Equestrian Federation, which prepares the lake's ice surface to racing standards and maintains race-day conditions in Swiss alpine winter weather.