THE ENGLISH DERBY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23517, 3 June 1938, Page 22

THE ENGLISH DERBY

New Zealanders, accustomed to a good view of their races, would find little satisfaction at Epsom. There is stand accommodation for a few thousands, but half a million people have to content themselves in the middle of the course or on the rails, for which they pay nothing. On the other hand, they see practically nothing of the race, and many of them leave the ground without even knowing what horse has won the great event.

The Derby was run for the first time in 1780, four years after the initial contest for the St. Leger. It was the outcome of a carousal by some of the sporting enthusiasts of the period, and the name was given as a compliment to their host. There were thirty-six subscribers for the first Derby, and nine of them started. • Some of the fields were small in the early days, there being only four runners when Lord Grosvenor’s Daedalus won in 1794. The largest field was thirty-three, in 1851, when Teddington won, but though the average has been about twenty in recent years, there were four Derby fields of single figure dimensions in the early years of this century, while for many years the subscribers have exceeded three hundred, the largest number of entries being 404, in 1931,