PREFACE. vii 



is concerned, there can be no objection to its history 

 being told : it is simple enough. 



The author longed to see the chief incidents of the 

 race brought into focus, as well as some account of 

 the horses running, and of their owners and jockeys ; 

 also details of the betting, and the hundred and one 

 occurrences which have taken place since Diomed 

 earned the first ' Blue Ribbon ' for Sir Charles Bun- 

 bury — ' hence these presents.* 



The process of compiling this work has from begin- 

 ning to end been a labour of love ; as a matter of fact, 

 it has been ' dug ' out of old newspapers and sporting 

 records of many kinds — calendars, magazines, and 

 memoirs. 



By the time the Derby begins to grow old, as will 

 be gathered from a perusal of the following pages, 

 each successive year presents some new feature, such 

 as the timing of the race, the opening of a line of 

 railway to Epsom, the inauguration of a Parliamentary 

 debate about the event, and the first use of the tele- 

 graph. Other years are marked by other incidents, 

 such as the Running Rein fraud, the Gladiateur 

 triumph, ' the Bend Or scare,' Fordham's first Derby 

 victory, etc. Slight sketches of the pedigrees and 



