It has often been said that “there is only one Derby: all the rest are imitations”.
Voltigeur, winner of 1850 Epsom Derby
If that is true, and if imitation is indeed the sincerest form of flattery, then the Epsom Derby is more flattered than a runaway leader setting soft fractions.
For the original has been joined over the years by Derbys in Australia, Jersey, Kentucky, India, Mauritius and countless places in between.
You can borrow the name, but no-one has yet attempted to reconstruct The Derby in its purest form.
Britain’s most well attended sporting event breaks all records
A mile and a half, plus a few yards, of twists and turns, ups and downs, and paths and cambers: there is nothing quite like it in the rest of the world of horseracing.
To help find the winner of the 2018 Derby at Epsom, Simon Rowlands outlines the challenges facing the field on Saturday afternoon on www.timeform.com.
