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The Derby

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  • if you're talking great flat horses you have to include Montjeu, Galileo and Sea the Stars
    I would have to include Shergar and Dancing Brave. 
  • bobmunro said:
    Who saw my all time favourite flat horse Nijinsky run?
    Never saw him run live, but an outstanding horse - the type that only seem to come along once in a generation. Amazingly though the following year gave us Mill Reef and the best of them all, Brigadier Gerard - my favourite flat horse ever, although I will begrudgingly accept equaled by Frankel.
    Although both were magnificent horses would you agree that the Brigadier and Frankel only truly stayed 10 furlongs. 
    Definitely right about Brigadier Gerard but you can't be sure about Frankel, as he never ran beyond the ten and a half furlongs of York. The way that he won that day and the the way that he won his final race on soft ground at Ascot suggests to me that he could easily have stayed twelve furlongs.
    Also, if you look at his progeny, he seems to be instilling a lot of stamina into them, which would indicate stamina of his own.
    Until Frankel came along I would have said that Dancing Brave was my favourite horse but Frankel had something that was unique. 
  • edited June 2019
    if you're talking great flat horses you have to include Montjeu, Galileo and Sea the Stars
    There's a lot to include in my lifetime - including Dancing Brave, Shergar, Kris, Alleged and not forgetting the greatest filly of them all, Oh So Sharp.
  • edited June 2019
    My great grandfather was living in Eastcombe Avenue when he was given a tip for the Derby sometime in the 30s and with some of the winnings bought shares in the Garden City Corporation. After his house was Blitzed in 1941 he was able to claim housing in Welwyn Garden City that was the start of my families migration out to Hertfordshire, @Tomhovi has a similar story re the tip I believe and his family lived only a street or two away. 

    The other Hertfordshire connection I remember from school is be that had Lord Derby lost the original race it would be called the Harpenden and we would be playing our local Harpenden against Millwall next season, sounds apocryphal but I remember our games teacher telling us in the late 70s.
  • SE7toSG3 said:
    My great grandfather was living in Eastcombe Avenue when he was given a tip for the Derby sometime in the 30s and with some of the winnings bought shares in the Garden City Corporation. After his house was Blitzed in 1941 he was able to claim housing in Welwyn Garden City that was the start of my families migration out to Hertfordshire, @Tomhovi has a similar story re the tip I believe and his family lived only a street or two away. 

    The other Hertfordshire connection I remember from school is be that had Lord Derby lost the original race it would be called the Harpenden and we would be playing our local Harpenden against Millwall next season, sounds apocryphal but I remember our games teacher telling us in the late 70s.

    From Wiki:


    At the previous year's Epsom May race meeting, Lord Derby had instigated a 1 1/2 mile race for three-year-old fillies, which he had named the Oaks after the hunting lodge that he owned on Epsom Downs. His filly Bridget had won the race, and it had been a great success. Accordingly, a post-race celebration was held by Lord Derby, at which it was decided to hold another new race for both colts and fillies the following year.[2] The matter of naming the race was discussed, with the options being naming it after Derby himself or naming it after Sir Charles Bunbury, a member of the Jockey Club, who was Derby's guest at the Oaks. According to legend, the matter was settled in Derby's favour on the toss of a coin, although it seems likely that Bunbury actually deferred to his host



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