epsom - a few thens and nows.

​The first Epsom Derby was run in 1780, though it can be argued that as the distance was only a mile, the 1781 race should be considered the first. Diomed won in 1780 and a race is still run in his name at the Derby meeting to this day. Perhaps, though, Young Eclipse should be similarly honoured having won the first Derby to be run over 12-furlongs.
In 1780, the owner of the victor, Sir Charles Bunbury, who might have had what become known worldwide as the Derby named in his honour if only he had called heads instead of tails and lost the naming rights to Lord Derby, picked up £1,065 15-shillings, which at todays values comes in at a cool £225,000 give or take a guinea or two. This year’s winning owner will receive close to £900,000, so at least the Epsom Derby is going up in value if not in prestige.
Unlike British and Irish jockeys brought-up on the unique topography of Epsom racecourse, foreign jockeys, used to flat oval tracks, on first experiencing the ups and downs of the Downs must get butterflies the size of cart-horses in their stomachs. The twists, turns, undulations and cambers of Epsom must be the equivalent for flat jockeys of Aintree before its sad emasculation by the well-meaning though wrong-headed allies of the ignorant minority. The Derby can be a helter-skelter of a race with a right-hand bend directly after the start, a steep rise of 140-feet, the descent to Tattenham Corner and then the free-wheeling dash for the home straight and a camber that can easily undo the good progress of favourites and hasten to the back of the fields outsiders that have given their all as the winning post hoves into view. Then there is the noise of the revellers in-field, the fun of the fair, the Ferris-wheel and the merry-go-rounds. Is it any wonder French trainers prefer to stay at home these days, even if their own Derby at Chantilly is nowadays a lesser race due to having 2-furlongs cut from the traditional Derby distance of 12-furlongs.
The only dead-heat for the Epsom Derby was way back in 1884 when St.Gatien and Harveste could not be separated.
Fred Archer won the race five-times in ten-years, Silvio, Bend Or, Iroquois, Melton and perhaps the best of the five, Ormonde in 1886.
There has not been a royal winner since 1900, Persimmon.
In 1946 Airbourne, a grey, won the race during which there was a snow storm.
It is hard to reconcile with the fact that Lester Piggott first won the race in 1954, the year of my birth, on Never Say Die, an apt name for a jockey who never gave in no matter the injury or circumstance of life.
Amazingly, it took the legendary Sir Gordon Richards all his career to win a Derby, finally achieving his most cherished goal in1953 on Pinza, only 12-months before an eighteen-year-old upstart won his first of nine Derby wins. Given the longevity of both their careers it is difficult to conceive that Piggott and Richards competed against each other.
The half-brothers Blakeney and Morston won in 1969 and 1973 for their owner-breeder-trainer, Arthur Budgett. Budgett, as with another owner-breeder of the era, John Hislop, was a believer in determining the limitations of his horses, with Blakeney staying in training as a 4-year-old to run in the Ascot Gold Cup. That sure does not happen these days.
In 1962 seven-horses failed to complete the course. As the field started down the hill chaos ensued when horses on the outside of the field drifted inward, with the result that a scene bearing more resemblance to Aintree than Epsom occurred. Romulus and Crossen collided with the heels of horses back-peddling and fell, five more, including the favourite Hethersett, also came down, one of which, King Canute suffered a fatal injury. Several of the unlucky jockeys suffered injuries, though only Harry Carr with concussion and Stan Smith with a broken leg were off-games for a period of time. In 1962 knee-jerk reactions were unknown and the incident was put down to a rare racing incident. Today, of course, after a similar incident, the maximum field size would be reduced, just so people could see something was being done, and jockeys lectured on being polite good boys next time they go race-riding.
The Epsom Derby is not what it used to be. There is never a maximum field – 20 nowadays – the in-field is not jammed-packed as in the good old days, the race does not receive the coverage in the media that other prestige sporting events achieve and it flies in the face of common-sense and fact to say it is the greatest race in the world. But it is still The Derby and there is only one race like it in the world if you discount the Oaks and perhaps the Coronation Cup and the other 12-furlong races held at Epsom, though they are not known throughout the racing kingdoms of the world. Long live Epsom. Long live the Derby.