Lord Derby and Sir Charles Bunbury, who flipped a coin in 1779 to decide whose name would be attached to a new race at Epsom, would still recognise the Derby’s switchback route around the Surrey downs if they could somehow be spirited along for the latest renewal of the Classic on Saturday. While so much else has changed at Epsom since Bunbury’s colt, Diomed, was the first winner nearly a quarter of a millennium ago, they would see a kindred spirit in Vimy Aykroyd, the owner of Pride Of Arras, one of the favourites to be the 246th.
Enthusiastic owner-breeders, mating the best with the best and then hoping for the best, were the bedrock of thoroughbred racing from its earliest days. For the first 200 years of Classics at Epsom, the typical winners were three-year-olds that had been bred and raced by owners with a lifelong passion for both sides of the game. Breeding a Derby winner was as much of an achievement, if not more so, than having it race in your colours.
