The Epsom Derby or simply, the Derby, was co-founded in 1780 by Edward Smith-Stanley, Twelfth Earl of Derby, and Sir Charles Bunbury and purportedly named after the former as the result of a coin toss to determine naming rights. For the first three years of its existence, the Derby was run over a mile, but extended to its current distance, of a mile-and-a-half – including the now famous sharp, downhill turn into the home straight at Tattenham Corner – in 1784.
Nowadays run on the first Saturday in June, the Derby is staged on a left-handed, sharp, undulating course, shaped like an elongated horseshoe, with a pronounced adverse camber in the home straight and a stiff, uphill climb to the winning post in the final half-furlong. Despite the idiosyncracies of Epsom Downs, the Derby has long been the most prestigious of the five British Classic races and stood the test of time in identifying the best middle-distance colts of their generation.
The Jockey Club has increased the total prize money for the Derby by £500,000 to £2 million, £1 of which goes to the winner, from 2026 onwards, making it once again, jointly, the most valuable race run in Britain. Prize money aside, though, a Derby-winning colt is all but guaranteed a lucrative career at stud. The highest-rated Derby winner of recent times, Sea The Stars, for example, currently stands at Gilltown Stud in Kilcullen, County Kildare for €300,000 a coupling.
In terms of records, the late Lester Piggott remains the leading jockey in the history of the Derby with nine winners between 1954 and 1983, while the equally legendary Aidan O’Brien has saddled 11 winners, all since the turn of the century and including the last three in a row, and is the leading trainer. Coincidentally, the records for the widest winning margin and the fastest winning time in the Derby at Epsom are both held by horses trained by Sir Michael Stoute, albeit nearly three decades apart. The ill-fated Shergar won by 10 lengths in 1981, while Workforce won by seven lengths in 2010, coming home in a time of two minutes and 31.33 seconds.