This weekend will see one of the most famous races in the world taking place at Epsom as they stage The Derby, the oldest of Britain’s five Classic races.
The Derby is the centrepiece of the two-day Epsom Festival that also includes The Oaks – the fillies’ Classic run over the same course and distance.
First run in 1780, The Derby at Epsom is one of the highlights of the British sporting summer and acts as the middle leg of the UK’s Triple Crown, sandwiched between the Guineas at Newmarket and the St Leger at Doncaster. No horse since Nijinsky in 1970 has managed to win the three Triple Crown races.
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Wed 29 May 2024About The Derby at Epsom
The Derby remains one of Britain’s sporting crown jewels and is the preserve of the best three-year-old colts in the lands, often attracting the best talent from the UK, Ireland and France to the famous Surrey Downs.
The Derby is run over a mile-and-a-half at Epsom, a quirky track with a camber on the home straight that makes it a demanding test of equine agility.
The left-handed track starts with a long climb uphill before the field level off and then descends downwards around the famous Tattenham Corner into the home straight where Derby glory awaits.
The Epsom Downs is an area freely open to the public located in the middle of the racetrack and ensures that large areas are open to the public to watch the race, which means the meeting has often attracted crowds in excess of 100,000.
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Fri 31 May 2024The Derby Festival at Epsom
The Derby Festival at Epsom takes place over two days, Friday May 31st and Saturday June 1st.
Day one is headlined by The Oaks, the fillies’ Classic, at 16:30 and also boasts the Group 1 Coronation Cup (15:10) and the Listed Surrey Stakes (17:10) on a seven-race card.
Saturday’s card builds up via the Group 3 Princess Elizabeth Stakes (14:00) and Diomed Stakes (14:35) as well as the famous Epsom ‘Dash’ (15:45) over five-furlongs, before The Derby itself gets underway at 16:30 as the centrepiece of an eight-race card.
Here are some handy references for types of bet you can place on the action at Epsom’s Derby Festival.
Single: A straight bet to find the winner of a given race. The horse you back must win the race.
Each-Way: Essentially, two bets on the same horse – one to win and one to be placed (top three, four or five, depending on the number of horses in the race). Your stake is doubled in order to make up the two parts of this bet, so a £5 each-way bet costs £10. If the horse wins, you are paid the win and the place, the second part at a percentage of the starting price, often ¼ of the odds. If your horse is ‘placed’ you are paid on that part of the bet only.
Forecast/Reverse Forecast: In a forecast, you predict which horses will finish in first and second and they must be in the correct order. A reverse forecast involves picking two horses to be first and second in any order and doubles the stake.
Accumulator: With 15 races to pick from over two days, many punters will be hoping to land an Epsom accumulator. This is where you select the winners of multiple races. To win, all of your selections need to win their races.
Placepot: Placepot betting involves selecting a horse/horses to be ‘placed’ across a number of specified races on a given raceday. The unit stakes can be as big or small as you want, but this increases the more horses you want to include. This can also be done as an accumulator bet by selecting multiple horses in the ‘to be placed’ market for their respective races where you can choose anything to eight or nine places per race, depending on how many horses are running.
Lucky 15: A popular multi-bet with racing punters is the Lucky15, which is a full-cover bet involving four horses in separate races. A full cover bet covers all of the possible multiple bets available for a given number of selections, in this case: Four Single Bets, Six Double Bets, Four Treble Bets, One Four-Fold Bet – hence the term Lucky15. Note that a £1 Lucky15 bet will cost £15.
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