A CHRONICLE OF THE DERBY. 



FROM DIOMED TO SAINFOIN. 



[The following list of Derby winner?, and placed as well as other 

 notable horses, will perhaps prove useful for occassional refer- 

 ence. Incidents of importance are, of course, recorded or 

 alladed to, but no attempt is made in this chronicle to 'swell' 

 the narratives given. As regards fuur-fifths of the races 

 there is almost nothing, except a very bald record of what 

 took place, to fall back n])on ; and those struggles for the 

 Derby which at the period gave rise to heated controversiea 

 can be now more calmly recorded, points in dispute having 

 long since been fought and settled, or, if not ' settled,' having 

 been by consent abandoned, each party retaining their own 

 opinion. No consecutive account of the great race, so far as 

 the writer is aware, has ever been attempted ; but a founda- 

 tion having here been now laid, it will not prove a difficult 

 task to indite at some future t'.me a fuller account.] 



It was on Thursday, May 4th, 1780, that tho 

 first race for the Derby Stakes was run ; there were 

 j^gQ thirty-six subscribers. The field numbered 

 Diomed. nine horses, the terms of the contest being 

 stated as follows : ' The Derby Stakes of 50 guineas 

 each, half forfeit, for throe-year-old colts, 8 st. ; and 

 fillies, 7 St. 11 lb.; one mile.' The winning horse proved 

 to be Diomed, a chestnut colt by Florizel out of sister 

 to Juno, by Spectator, and was the property of Sir 

 Charles Bunbury. No record is extant of how the 

 race was run, or how far it was won, but a complete 



15—2 



