vi PREFACE. 



It would be interesting to obtain a list of the sub- 

 scribers, and the names and pedigrees of the animals 

 named for the race ; likewise, some information of the 

 way in which the race was run and won. All I have 

 gleaned is inchided in the following pages, so that the 

 reader may s[)eedily become as well informed on the 

 subject as the writer. 



Could early commentators have foreseen the 

 future magnitude of the race, and that in course of 

 time it would become of international importance, 

 the public, from the date of its institution, would 

 doubtless have been placed in possession of some 

 curious details regarding the Derby that cannot now 

 be obtained, which would be read with avidity, not 

 only by all who interest themselves in the affairs of 

 the turf, but by the general reader as well. 



A countless number of ' Derby ' sketches have been 

 written during the last fifty years, many of which are 

 interesting; but I think I am correct in saying that 

 this is the first history of the Derby which has taken 

 the form of a ' book,' and the story of a book is some- 

 times said to be of even greater interest than the book 

 itself, could it be known. That is a saying which 

 many will endorse, and so far as the present work 



