A yellow weather warning put a lid on the walk-up attendance on the Hill at Epsom on Saturday, and though the Derby itself avoided the worst of the rain, when it did finally arrive, about half an hour after the big race, it sent many spectators scurrying for an early exit. At the end of a three‑month period with historically low rainfall, it was horribly bad luck.
But there was still something else missing throughout the afternoon at what was once Britain’s greatest public sporting event. Aidan O’Brien put his finger on it, albeit obliquely, after Lambourn’s all-the-way victory in the Classic. “Chester [where Lambourn trialled for Epsom in the Chester Vase] is a great place for putting an edge on a horse,” he said. “It wakes them up, there’s a great atmosphere there.”
