Diamond Jubilee Stakes

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The Group 1 Diamond Jubilee Stakes is the sprint championship race for older horses at Royal Ascot and attracts a truly international field.

Australian superstar Black Caviar was the most famous winner, a narrow winner in 2012 and eventually retired unbeaten in 25 starts. Other notable winners include Danehill (1989), Choisir (2003), Cape of Good Hope (2005) and Blue Point (2019).

Find out more about the Diamond Jubilee Stakes:

Diamond Jubilee Stakes

The Race – Diamond Jubilee Stakes

The Diamond Jubilee Stakes is the feature race on the final day (Saturday) of Royal Ascot. It is a straight six furlong dash and one of the most prestigious sprint races in the world. With runners from as far afield as America, Australia and Hong Kong, it takes a high class sprinter to take this valuable prize.

Famous Diamond Jubilee Stakes Winners & History

The Diamond Jubilee Stakes was originally run as the All-aged Stakes in 1868 with victory going to Laneret. A horse called Prince Charlie won the race for three successive seasons from 1872 to 1874, a feat which has yet to be matched. The race was renamed the Cork & Orrery Stakes in 1926 with and classed at Group 3 level when race grading was introduced in 1971.

It was upgraded to Group 2 in 1998 and finally to Group 1 in 2002 when it became the Golden Jubilee Stakes. The final name change commemorated the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II in 2012. The race was closed to three-year-olds in 2015 when the Commonwealth Cup was created specifically for their age group.

This race has become a popular target for overseas raiders since the Australian-trained Choisir broke the mould in 2003. Two years’ later it was Hong Kong-based Cape of Good Hope who took the prize for Trainer David Oughton.

The biggest star name to challenge for the Diamond Jubilee Stakes was Black Caviar in 2012. Royal Ascot was fortunate to host two world champion racehorses that year. Frankel was sublime in the Queen Anne Stakes but Black Caviar’s supporters had to survive an anxious wait before the photograph revealed that she had held on by a head from Moonlight Cloud.

America added their name to the winner’s list in 2015 when Frankie Dettori drove out Undrafted to win for Wesley Ward. He beat Australian hope Brazen Beau by half a length. Blue Point was a winner for the home team in 2019, following up his victory in the King’s Stand Stakes four days’ earlier. In doing so, he emulated the achievement of Choisir and was made Cartier Champion Sprinter of the year.

Key Diamond Jubilee Stakes Trials

Surprisingly, the King’s Stand Stakes held over five furlongs earlier at the Royal meeting has provided six previous winners of the Diamond Jubilee. That race is sometimes a first option for International raiders and, if they don’t appear to have taken much out of themselves, they take their chance in Saturday’s big race. Other useful form guides include the Duke of York Stakes at York’s May meeting and the Greenlands Stakes at the Curragh. Previous form at Ascot is also a positive, particularly horses that have run in this race in earlier seasons.

The Diamond Jubilee results cover the complete range from Black Caviar’s win as the 1-6 favourite to shock 33-1 winners Les Arcs (2006) and Kingsgate Native (2008). Besides Black Caviar, favourites have a moderate record with only Slade Power (2014), Blue Point (2019) and Dream of Dreams (2021) starting outright market leaders in the last twenty years.

Punters suffered a torrid time in this race for several seasons with a series of shock results. Art Connoisseur (2009) returned at 20-1 and Society Rock (2011) sprang a 25-1 surprise. Some confidence has since been restored with the last five winners starting either first or second favourite.

Diamond Jubilee Stakes Stats

Horses aged four and five have dominated the Diamond Jubilee in recent years. Merchant Navy (2018) was allowed to compete as a three-year-old because he was born in the Southern Hemisphere. Dream Of Dreams (2021) won as a seven-year-old having gone agonisingly close when runner-up in 2019 and 2020.

Fourteen of the last nineteen winners had previously won at least one Group race. An official rating of 114 or higher is typically required to win this race. Lethal Force (111 in 2013) and Society Rock (112 in 2011) were just below this mark. Black Caviar came into the race with an official rating of 132.

Top Trainers and Jockeys

No Trainer has managed to dominate this race in recent years with a wide spread of successful yards across the racing world The record of five winners is still held by Vincent O’Brien who was won here for the final time with College Chapel in 1993. The horse was ridden by Lester Piggott who rode a remarkable ten winners in this event, including two-time winner Right Boy (1958, 1959).

James Fanshawe has trained the winner twice with Society Rock (2011) and The Tin Man (2017). Ryan Moore has won the Diamond Jubilee Stakes three times in the last six years with Twilight Son (2016), Merchant Navy (2018) and Dream of Dreams (2021).

Betting on the Diamond Jubilee Stakes

There is a strong ante-post market for the Diamond Jubilee Stakes. This is the main summer target for the leading six furlong sprinters so running plans are usually stated well in advance. One word of caution is to be wary of sprinters who don’t act on soft ground as there have been late withdrawals as a result of wet weather in recent seasons.

The July Cup is often the next objective for the winner here. Six of the last twelve winners have headed to Newmarket and three of them were successful; Starspangledbanner (2010), Lethal Force (2013) and Slade Power (2014).

Popular Questions

What time is the Diamond Jubilee Stakes?

The Diamond Jubilee Stakes takes place at 4:20 pm.

What is the distance of the Diamond Jubilee Stakes?

The Diamond Jubilee Stakes is 6 furlongs long.

Where does the Diamond Jubilee Stakes take place?

The Diamond Jubilee Stakes takes place at Ascot Racecourse.

Summary of the Diamond Jubilee Stakes

The Diamond Jubilee Stakes is the highlight of the last of five days of top class action at Royal Ascot.

This is a real International event with big name stars from across the globe clashing with the best sprinters from Britain and Ireland.

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