The Jubilee Handicap (early on, the Great Jubilee Prize) was for decades an important handicap, but it lost its Greatness as the 20th century went on. Its inaugural running commemorated the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria’s reign.
Bendigo (qv) won its inaugual running in 1887, carrying 9 stone 7; he’d won the Cambridgeshire, the Lincoln and the very first Eclipse Stakes, after once changing hands for just £72 (he was also second in the Cambridgeshire three times and in the Cesarewitch once). The new “park courses” were highly successful and vied with each other to offer mammoth prizes. The Jubilee’s £3,000 then is akin to £400,000 now. Minting (qv), the winner in 1888, was an exceptional horse who happened to be outshone by the even more excellent Ormonde (qv). Its most popular winner was probably Victor Wild (qv). His owner, a Dulwich hotelier, was always remarkably open about his horse’s chances, even displaying a banner in his bar proclaiming his horse would win the Jubilee. It was a big betting race, with a strong market, so much so that the south London punters could avail themselves of 20/1. There was widespread delight when he won by six lengths, though not for those whose bookies were cleaned out and who disappeared. Victor Wild won again in 1896, at 5/1. He had a race named after him at Kempton, deservedly.
Another dual winner, Ypsilanti, landed a huge gamble in 1903 for his more secretive owners that allegedly cost bookmakers £9 million in today’s money. The following year he successfully conceded 48lbs to the runner-up.
These and other high profile successes made the Jubilee an important landmark in the flat racing season. That is, until it and many other once-famous handicaps were scuppered by the development of Pattern races, valuable contests designed to attract the best horses, not the best-handicapped.
In the Independent on 1 May 2000 Greg Wood wrote in scathing terms about the loss of the word Jubilee in the race name as a result of sponsorship. Sponsors are apt to come and go, though, and the word returned in 2002. Its last running on the Jubilee course was on 2 May 2005 as a run-of-the-mill Class 4 handicap. Kempton’s turf flat tracks were then closed and replaced by a standard oval all-weather course. The Jubilee survived, sharing its name with the London Mile Series Qualifer, until 6 May 2014, after which it disappeared for good.
Ardent racing fans may have come across the quiz question, which two horses with the same name won the Jubilee Handicap and the Epsom Derby? Commander in Chief in 1964 and 1993.
Sources include:
https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/general/celebrate-turf-s-rich-heritage-with-the-jubilee-5371119.html