Derby thrills

"Unlike Ascot, Epsom is not thought of as a week, but as a race, and on Saturday there is another race. (This was written in the days when the Derby was on the first day of the meeting, Wednesday, and the Oaks on the fourth day, Saturday). The social obligations of attending Ascot scarcely exist at Epsom: one goes, actually, for the sport, for that gripping, throbbing run up the last two furlongs, when the good horses give way to the great ones and, somewhere up in that stand, a fist is clinching inside one owner's stomach and a heart is wondering which way to beat next. It's not just the 63,000 pounds prize money, but the everlasting honour of winning the world's greatest race that is at stake; of owning a horse which, in some men's minds, will give its name to the year. Ah yes, that was Nijinsky's Derby, and that Mill Reef's, like Newcombe's Wimbledon, or Drobny's.

"But the excitement is not limited to the owners, it also grips those clutching bookies' tickets on the rails, as if the winning of a few pounds will alter life significantly. It is, enough, though, to set the crowd jumping, screeching and beseeching, as the runners hurtle into vision and out again. That glorious, irreplaceable, unforgettable moment makes every discomfort worthwhile, every frustration tolerable. A man who has not felt the hail of scattered turf has not really been racing.

"Save possibly at Goodwood, there is no sight in the whole of British racing to equal that from high up in the Epsom grandstand. The splendour of the empty Downs is quite breathtaking; thronging with the Derby crowd, they have to be seen to be believed. On The Hill and in The Dip are enough people to fill a large town. It is their day. To quote the owner of the 1972 Derby winner, Roberto: 'Anyone who doesn't consider the Epsom Derby one of the greatest sports events in the world must be out of his mind.'

"Its greatness lies not only in the acuteness of the test and the desperation of the chase, but in the enthusiasm of the people. As Hugh McIlvanney wrote in the Daily Express, it is one of the last genuine folk festivals left to us; no lens is wide enough and no screen big enough to capture its real essence. One can see the race well enough on television, but one is deprived of participation. 'In contrast with the priorities at Ascot,' wrote McIlvanney, 'the people matter more than the clothes at the Derby. It is an occasion with sweat under its armpits.'

"As early as dawn there is an astonishing sense of impending excitement. Driving up through the damp and silent golf course one is always, and always suddenly, aware of the overwhelming openness of the place that lies in front ..."

And so it goes, this wonderful description of the Derby by David Hunn in his classic book, 'Epsom Racecourse'. I could continue to quote from him, but that little snippet sums it up, I'd say - and there's certainly nothing I could add to it. Tomorrow is Derby Day, which is really exciting. For what it's worth, my three against the field are New Approach, Frozen Fire and Casual Conquest, but this year's race, like today's Oaks (in which I could see Bolger initiating a Classic double) is extremely open and tremendously exciting.

I've just watched the first race of the meeting, the Diomed Stakes, and that's got things off to a great start with one of the most admirable horses in training saluting the judge, the astonishingly durable and versatile Blythe Knight. Mind you, I suppose he had to win to keep up with the great La Vecchia Scuola, the wonderful four-year-old filly/mare by Mull Of Kintyre who won by six lengths over a mile and five furlongs at Hamilton yesterday afternoon. She hasn't been exceeding expectations for as long as Blythe Knight has, but in her own way she's just as much a marvel. When she won a five-furlong seller at Musselburgh last summer for Dandy Nicholls, it would have been virtually impossible to predict that in the next twelve months she'd win over hurdles at the same track, run a blinder in a 3-mile Grade One hurdle at Aintree, win over hurdles on consecutive days at the Scottish National meeting at Ayr, and then revert to the flat in such style. She's as much a tribute to Jim Goldie as Blythe Knight is to John Quinn, and they both remind us, as we marvel at the stars of the Derby, Oaks and Coronation Cup, that it isn't only in the Classics and weight-for-age events that we find the most wonderful and admirable racehorses. I just thought I'd add that in, because it would be a gross injustice if, in considering the stars of this week, La Vecchia Scuola and Blythe Knight weren't both mentioned in dispatches.