page_title: Epsom Derby
section_title: Timeline
hierarchical_section_title: Epsom Derby / Timeline
caption_attribution_description: Epsom Derby winner, Amato (1835-1841)
context_page_description: The Derby Stakes, officially the Investec Derby, popularly known as the Derby is a Group 1 flat horse race in England open to three-year-old colts and fillies. It is run at Epsom Downs Racecourse in Surrey over a distance of one mile, four furlongs and 6 yards, usually on the first Saturday of June each year.
  It is Britain's richest horse race, and the most prestigious of the five Classics. It is sometimes referred to as the "Blue Riband" of the turf. The race serves as the middle leg of the historically significant Triple Crown of British horse racing, preceded by the 2000 Guineas and followed by the St Leger, although the feat of winning all three is rarely attempted in the modern era due to changing priorities in racing and breeding, and the demands it places on horses.
  The name "Derby" has become synonymous with great races all over the world, and as such has been borrowed many times, notably by the Kentucky Derby in the United States. The Derby run at Epsom is the original and in Great Britain is invariably referred to as "the Derby". It is one of Britain's great national sporting events and has a large worldwide TV audience.
context_section_description: 1805: One of the horses was brought down by a spectator.
  1825: Middleton never raced before or after winning the Derby.
  1838: Amato never raced before or after winning the Derby.
  1844: The original winner Running Rein was disqualified as he was actually an ineligible four-year-old horse named Maccabeus.
  1881: Iroquois became the first American-bred to win a leg of the British triple crown.
  1884: The race finished with a dead-heat between Harvester and St. Gatien.
  1887: Merry Hampton is the most recent horse to win the Derby with no previous victories.
  1894: The winner was owned by the Prime Minister at the time, the 5th Earl of Rosebery.
  1901: The first year in which a mechanical starting gate was used.
  1909: Minoru was the first Derby winner owned by a reigning monarch, King Edward VII, who had previously won twice as Prince of Wales.
  1913: The 6/4 favourite Craganour, owned by Charles B. Ismay, brother of J. Bruce Ismay of the Titanic, was controversially disqualified, and the race was awarded to the 100/1 outsider Aboyeur. Suffragette Emily Davison was struck by King George V's horse, Anmer, she died four days later.
  1916: Fifinella, who also won The Oaks, is the most recent (as of 2017) of six fillies to win the race. The previous five were Eleanor (1801), Blink Bonny (1857), Shotover (1882), Signorinetta (1908), Tagalie (1912).
  1921: The winner Humorist died two weeks after the race.
  1927: The first Derby to be broadcast by the BBC.
  1932: April the Fifth is the most recent winner trained at Epsom.
  1946: Airborne is the most recent (as of 2017) of four grey horses to win the Derby.
  1953: Pinza was the only winner in the race for the jockey Sir Gordon Richards, after 27 unsuccessful attempts.
  1960: Although there had been an experimental TV transmission of the race in the early 1930s, regular television coverage of the Derby began this year, initially on both BBC and ITV.
  1967: Starting stalls used for the first time.
  1989: The runner-up Terimon is the longest-priced horse to finish placed in the Derby, at odds of 500/1.
  1996: Alex Greaves became the first female jockey to ride in the race. She finished last of the 20 runners on the filly Portuguese Lil.
  1998: The most recent (as of 2019) filly to take part, the 1,000 Guineas winner Cape Verdi, started as 11/4 favourite but could only finish ninth.
  2006: Martin Dwyer's winning ride on Sir Percy subsequently won the Lester Award for "Flat Ride of the Year".
  2007: Authorized provided jockey Frankie Dettori with his first winner in the Derby after 14 previous attempts.
  2008: Jim Bolger, the trainer of the winner New Approach, had left the horse entered for the race "by mistake", having not initially intended to run.
  2010: Workforce broke the Epsom track record winning in the time 2m 31.33s previously held by Lammtarra who set it in 1995 at 2m 32.31s.
  2012: Aidan O'Brien and his 19-year-old son Joseph became the first father-son/trainer-jockey combination to win the race. Hayley Turner became the second female jockey to ride in the race, on Cavaleiro, finishing last of the nine horses which went to post, the lowest number since 1907.
  2014: Aidan O'Brien became the first person to train three consecutive winners of the race.
  2017: Ana O'Brien, daughter of Aidan, was the third female jockey to ride in the race, on The Anvil. By finishing 17th of the 18 runners, she became the first woman to beat another runner to the line.
caption: Amato, 1838 Derby winner by John Frederick Herring, Sr
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