Run over 6 furlongs and, nowadays, open to horses aged four years and upwards, the Diamond Jubilee Stakes is the eighth, and final, Group 1 race at Royal Ascot. Inaugurated, as the All-Aged Stakes, in 1868, the race has undergone various changes to its title, status and conditions down the years.

In 1926, the race was renamed the Cork and Orrery Stakes, in honour of Richard Boyle, Ninth Earl of Cork and Orrery, who served as Master of the Buckhounds – and, therefore, as Her Majesty’s Representative at Ascot – three times during the reign of Queen Victoria. In 2002, the race title became the Golden Jubilee Stakes and, in 2012, the Diamond Jubilee Stakes, to commemorate the corresponding landmarks in the reign of Queen Elizabeth II.

In 1971, following the creation of the European Pattern, the Cork and Orrery Stakes was awarded Group 3 status, but was upgraded to Group 2 status in 1998. The Golden Jubilee Stakes was further upgraded to Group 1 status, at the same time as the name change, in 2002. In 2015, to encourage entries for the newly-created Commonwealth Cup, a 6-furlong contest restricted to three-year-olds, the Diamond Jubilee Stakes was closed to horses of that age.

Ras Prince Monolulu was the original ‘colourful’ racing tipster and in his heyday, in the inter-war years, was nothing short of a national icon. Born Peter Carl McKay on Saint Croix, the largest of the US Virgin Islands, in 1881, Monolulu styled himself as a chief of the Falasha tribe of Abyssinia, or Ethiopia, as it is now.

As such, he cut an instantly recognisable figure at racecourses up and down the country, kitted out in garish pantaloons, waistcoats and jackets – two of which are on display at the National Horseracing Museum in Newmarket – topped with a headdress of ostrich feathers. As engaging as he was eccentric, Monolulu beguiled racegoers with his catchphrase, ‘I gotta horse, I gotta horse to beat the favourite’, before dolling out his tips, in sealed envelopes, at ten shillings a time.

Legend has it that Monolulu won £8,000, or over £365,000 by modern standards, by backing the 1920 Derby winner, Spion Kop, but it would be fair to say that most of his tips were less profitable. However, his lack of success did little to lessen his celebrity and, for most of his life, was the most famous black man in the country. He appeared in public information films and on cigarette cards and made numerous cameo appearances, as himself, to add a note of authenticity to British films involving horse racing.

Gordon Lord Byron, who died as a twelve-year-old after collapsing on the gallops of County Tipperary trainer Tom Hogan in June, 2020, epitomised the type of rags-to-riches story that is always possible in the uncertian world of horse racing. Puchased for just €2,000 as a foal, the son of Byron passed unsold through the sales ring as a yearling, but during his ten-year racing career won

16 of his 108 starts and was placed second or third on a further 32 occasions, earning a total of £1.92 million in prize money. Indeed, Gordon Lord Byron, who was officially rated 118 in his prime, was still officially rated 105 at the time of his death.

His major victories included three at the highest Group One level, namely the Prix de la Foret at Longchamp in 2012, the Sprint Cup at Haydock in 2013 and, perhaps most notably, the George Ryder Stakes at Rosehill in Sydney, Australia in 2014. The latter success made him the first European-trained horse ever to win a Group One sprint in Australia.

Indeed, the ‘fairytale’ story of Gordon Lord Byron, who fractured his pelvis on his racecourse debut and was sidelined for over a year, but rose through the ranks to become one of the most remarkable racehorses of modern times, is the subject of an award-winning documentary, ‘Against The Odds – Racing With Lord Byron’, produced by Nicholas Ryan-Purcell. Tom Hogan described his stable star simply as, ‘Life changing’.

Easy Peasy