The Epsom Derby  

It is know as The Derby, and there is not need more words to know to which race we refer. There is nothing similar, there are many Derbys, probably one for each country of horse racing tradition, but The Derby there is only one that may called so.

But The Derby is not only a race, it is a feast day, it is The Derby Day and I believe that nobody better than Fernando Savater describes The Derby in his book "The Play of the Horses" writing:

"When I find myself in the tribune of Epsom on the first Wednesday of June, a few seconds before the start of the two minutes and a half , the longest and most tense of the year, I know with certainty that I would not like to be in that moment in any other part of the world; this is something that one may assure in very few occasions and it is worthwhile to live three hundred and sixty five days to enjoy again such plenitude".

The origin of The Derby dates from 1780, exactly on a 4 of May, when the first edition of this singular race was run, winning by Diomed, in a race over a mile, even though we have to look something backwards in time to see his history.

There was a race called Oaks instituted by Lord Derby, reserved exclusively for mares, which was disputed for the first time in 1779, what made that one year later Lord Derby and following the initiative of his friend Sir Charles Bunbury, created the version for the males, over the distance of one mile, not having been disputed over a mile and a half until the year 1784 when Serjeant was the winner.

The Derby of 1839 deserves a special charter, not only because the race was carried out under a copious snowfall but also due to a curious case, the winner Bloomsbury, who was suspected of having run and won The Derby with an age which did not correspond to the race conditions, for three years old exclusively, but it was not demonstrated that the horse were four years as the rumors indicated.
 

In 1853, took place the victory of West Australian, the first who would obtain the Triple British Corona, winning the 2000 Guineas , The Derby and the St. Leger a deed which only 15 horses have achieved in the whole history, the last of them in getting it was Nijinsky in 1970.

The first time that The Derby was televised was in 1931, the winner of that year being Cameronian, horse who also would win in the 2,000 Guineas, but who was not able to do the same in the St. Leger, establishing two years later Hyperion the time record of the trial with 2:34 though little would last his happiness, because three years later, in 1936, the horse of the Aga Khan, Mahmoud won in a record time, getting the second place another horse of Aga Khan, Taj Akbar.

From 1780 up to our times, The Derby has been celebrated in the Epsom Down Racecourse, except in the period of the II World War, between 1940 and 1945 when it was run in Newmarket, returning to Epsom in 1946, with the victory of Airborne.

Advancing in the time, there is a historic date which was in 1954 when Never Say Die won The Derby, name that probably to many of us may not tell anything special, but surely if we say that the jockey was Lester Piggott, our senses would change completely.

It was the beginning of an unstoppable Lester in The Derby, winning nothing less than nine Derbys.

The edition of 1981 must have a special mention. It was a race in which there was a horse who ran two races before The Derby, winning the first by ten lengths and the second race by twelve, and his definitive trial arrived with The Derby. It was Shergar, a wonderful horse property of the Aga Khan, with a very young Walter Swimburn on the saddle, who left to second horse to ten lengths, being the longest distance by which The Derby has been won.

We were before a special horse, he twisted your rivals each to his own, with an overwhelming superiority, but the great fatality arrived. Shergar was syndicated for ten million pounds, and in 1983, was kidnapped and possibly murdered by the IRA.

The Derby of 1984 was the last to be disputed the first Wednesday of June due to that in 1985 it was decided to change it to the first Saturday of June, winning Lammtarra who gave brilliance to this Derby, horse who only ran three races in 1985 winning the three, The Derby, King George Vi and Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes and Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, and having disputed exclusively one race before The Derby, at the age of two years old, remaining in the mind of all the next question until where had arrived Lamtarra if he had not been purchased by Japanese owners for the Stud? We will never know, but we know the words of Frankie Dettori in an interview fot TV, where he was asked for one of his unforgettable races and he answered "My victory with Lammtarra in the Arch".

It is unequalled feast, thousands of persons in the tribunes, in the center of the track, persons in very long queues trying to get the last tickets while the crowd is arriving from the Victoria Station in London up to the Tottenham Corner Station, thousands of cars parking where they can, together with the red London double deck buses, picnics, drinks,… a nice day, a race with character, with enchantment, magic, it is The Derby

Anecdotes

· Eleanor was the first filly who won The Derby in 1801, and one of the six fillies who have got The Derby along its history

· Sir Peter Teazle, winning horse in 1787 was the sire of the first three classified in the 1803 edition, won by Ditto

· Smolensko was the first horse who reached the victory in he 2,000 Guineas and in The Derby in the year 1813

· After twenty eight races disputed in The Derby, the jockey Gordon Richards obtained the victory in 1953 with Pinza, in what was his last Derby.

· In 1891, the climatology was so bad, that the stewards allowed the jockeys to surpass after the race on the weight declared, two pounds, practically one kilo.

· Before the starting gates were installed to give the race in the same conditions for all participants, there were habitual delays of thirty minutes in the departures, arriving in some year to last up to ninety minutes.

· Mrs. Giller & Mrs. Talbot were the first women in winning The Derby as owners, in 1937 with Mid-Day Sun.

· The horse Blue Peter did not have a lot of luck in 1939. He could have been the 15th winner of the British Triple Crown, but after having the 2,000 Guineas and The Derby, and due to the beginning of the II World War, the St. Leger was canceled.

· In the year 1962 there was an important fall in the dispute of The Derby, in the Tottenham Corner, falling down seven jockeys and their horses, and probably this year will be remembered more for this reason than for the victory of Larkspur

· The owner Pasul Mellon is the only one who can be vain of having won The Derby, in 1971 with Mill Reef, and the Kentucky Derby, in 1993 with Sea Hero

· Snow Knight, winner in 1974 was the sire of Snow Bride, winner of the Oaks of 1989 who in her turn was the dam of another great horse, winner of the Derby in 1995, Lammtarra

· The jockey who most victories has obtained in The Derby has been Lester Piggott with nine, and the trainer Vicent OŽBrien with six victories.

· The youngest jockey who has won The Derby up to day, was Lester Piggott with 18 years old with, Never Say Die in 1954, and the oldest John Forth, who won at the age of 60 years with Frederick in 1829