Every year, the attention of the world’s horse racing fans turns to Surrey and the Derby festival at Epsom Downs racecourse.
Known as the Greatest Flat Race in the World, the Epsom Derby was first run in 1780 and, while its name is now known around the world, it was originally decided by a coin toss.
The 12th Earl of Derby and Sir Charles Bunbury (the “perpetual president” of the Jockey Club and a guest at Lord Derby’s house, The Oaks) spun a coin as to whether the race should be called the Derby Stakes or the Bunbury Stakes.
Although Lord Derby won the toss of the coin, it was Sir Charles Bunbury who owned the first winner – Diomed, the 6-4 favourite. The Epsom Bunbury doesn’t quite trip off the tongue as majestically, however, does it?!
The other feature race of the Derby horse racing festival is The Oaks, which is named after Lord Derby’s country house in Woodmansterne. It was first run in May 1779, before the inception of the Derby.
The Oaks and Derby provide an uninterrupted line of winners extending over more than two-and-a-quarter centuries – and are said to be the only two races in the world to hold that honour.
Horse racing history
Benjamin Disraeli, who would go on to become two-time Prime Minister of Great Britain, described the scene at the 1837 Derby in his novel Sybil:
“A few minutes, only a few minutes, and the event that for twelve months has been the pivot of so much calculation, of such subtle combinations, of such deep conspiracies, round which the thought and passion of the sporting world have hung like eagles, will be recorded in the fleeting tablets of the past. But what minutes! Count them by sensation and not by calendars, and each moment is a day and the race a life.”
While the racing has produced many dramatic moments over the years, perhaps the most infamous moment to be associated with the Epsom Derby is from the 1913 race, when the protesting suffragette, Miss Emily Davison, brought down the King’s horse by running onto the course at Tattenham Corner.
It was a hugely controversial moment and Davison was fatally injured in the incident, but it became an iconic moment of the suffragette movement – partly, perhaps, due to being captured on three newsreel cameras, when film technology was in its infancy.
A work of art
To mark International Women’s Day, on Monday March 8, 2021, Epsom unveiled a life-size statue in the Surrey town’s marketplace to commemorate the suffragette.
It’s not the first statue to capture the heritage of the Derby in Epsom town centre, however, as you will also find Evocation of Speed, which features the horses Diomed (the winner of the first Derby in 1780) and Galileo (the 2000 race winner and sire to another five Epsom Derby champions) there.
The connections between the Epsom Derby and the royal family run deep, of course, and Her Majesty The Queen visited the event for nearly 70 years, even celebrating her 90th birthday at the 2016 festival.
Just four days after her coronation, in 1953, Her Majesty attended a sun-drenched Epsom Downs racecourse to watch her first runner in the Derby and the tradition continued until her passing in 2022.
In 2025, Ladies' Day and Derby Day at Epsom Downs racecourse are set for Friday June 6 and Saturday June 7, 2025.