The Epsom Handicap is one of the biggest thoroughbred races held in Sydney each year, and the premier Handicap event of the Sydney Spring Racing Carnival. Hosted each year in early October at Royal Randwick Racecourse, this great event is an important part of Australian horse racing culture. The Epsom Handicap is a 1600 metre race worth $500,000 in prizemoney, with a rich history that stretches back to 1863.
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The inaugural Epsom Handicap was won by Dundee, with the event named after the famous Epsom Downs Racecourse in England. Epsom Downs is home to the three-year old classic Epsom Derby, and it did not take long for the Epsom Handicap to soak up some of that events character and prestige. The Epsom Handicap was originally run over a distance of 8 furlongs and converted to its current metric distance of 1600 metres in 1972.
This great race was elevated from a Principal race directly to Group 1 status in 1979, and has remained a Group 1 event ever since. Six horses have managed to win the Epsom Handicap on back-to-back occassions, Masquerade in 1882 and1883, Melodrama in 1907 and 1908, Chatham in 1932 and 1933, Toi Port in 1963 and 1964, Super Impose in 1990 and 1991, and Desert War in 2004 and 2005.
Jockey Donald Nicolson will always be associated with this event, winning five times in a row between 1880 and 1884 before be was tragically killed a few weeks later after falling in the 1885 Caulfield Cup. In recent years, some of the talented gallopers who have won this race include Theseo in 2008, Racing To Win in 2006, Shogun Lodge in 2000, Dodge in 1998, and Filante in 1996.
