Is it true that the Derby was originally run over a mile?

The simple answer is yes, it is. The Derby Stakes was co-founded, as a sweepstakes race for three-year-old colts and fillies, by Edward Smith-Stanley, Twelfth Earl of Derby, and Sir Charles Bunbury, Chairman of the Jockey Club, in 1780. The official ‘Racing Calendar’ stated that, on May 4 that year, the inaugural Derby Stakes was run ‘over the last mile of the course’ at Epsom.

Until fairly recently, it was widely believed that the ‘last mile’ referred to a straight mile, extending beyond the current 5-furlong start on a chute coming off Tattenham Corner at the top of the home straight. However, according to official Derby historian Michael Church, the ‘last mile’ actually referred to the last mile of the so-called ‘Orbicular Course’, onto which the Derby was transferred when it was extended from mile to a mile and a half in 1784. Thus, the sweeping, downhill turn into Tattenham Corner did not become a feature of the Derby until four years after the inaugural running. Indeed, it was close to the position of the mile marker on the old Orbicular Course that Jockey Club Racecourses, which owns Epsom Downs, erected a plaque to commemorate the starting point of the inaugural Derby.

Are there standout King George VI Chase Winners?

The roll of honour for the King George VI Chase, which was inaugurated in 1937, reads like a ‘Who’s Who’ of steeplechasing talent from Britain, Ireland and France since World War II. Consequently, unless you’re made of stone, rational, impartial comparison of winners from different generations is nigh on impossible. However, Timeform ratings are designed to allow exactly that, so – notwithstanding the fact that they’ve only been available since the early Sixties – they may be the best we can hope for.

Unsurprisingly, the ‘best’ King George VI Chase ever, according to Timeform, was Arkle, whose rating of 121 remains the highest awarded to any steeplechaser. Back in the days when the conditions of the King George VI Chase dictated that he conceded weight all ’round, Arkle won in 1965, trouncing Dormant by a distance and would have probably won again in 1966, but for fracturing the pedal bone in his off-fore during the race.

A direct contemporary of Arkle, by whom he was ultimately overshadowed, Mill House was hailed as the best steeplechaser since Golden Miller when running away with the Cheltenham Gold Cup, as a six-year-old, in 1963. He subsequently beat Arkle, who was receiving 5lb, in the Hennessy Gold Cup at Newbury the following November and followed up in the King George VI Chase. His Timeform Annual Rating of 191 ranks him joint-second of winners of the Boxing Day spectacular during the Timeform era.

Mill House shares his position in the all-time list with the most successful horse in the history of the King George VI Chase, Kauto Star, who won five times between 2006 and 2011. The winner of the Cheltenham Gold Cup in 2007 and 2009, Kauto Star was, in the words of trainer Paul Nicholls, ‘once in a lifetime’. With apologies to Cottage Rake, who won the King George VI Chase in 1948, not to mention the Cheltenham Gold Cup in 1948, 1949 and 1950, other contenders for the ‘best’ winners include Desert Orchid, Burrough Hill Lad and Long Run.

 

Where, and when, was Nico de Boinville born?

Nico de Boinville – whose full name is Nicolai W. Chastel de Boinville – may find his French heritage difficult to disguise, but he was, in fact, born in Baughurst, Hampshire on August 14, 1989.

Many of his ancestors, who were landed gentry from Lorraine, in northeastern France, were sent to the guillotine during the French Revolution. One of them, Jean Baptiste de Boinville – who served as aide-de-camp to the Marquis de Lafayette – escaped and sought political exile in London in 1789 after his estates were confiscated by the Revolutionary Government.

Privately educated at Bradfield College, Berkshire, Nico de Boinville renewed his French connection by spending his gap year working for Chantilly trainer Richard Gibson, en route to Newcastle-upon-Tyne University. However, the rigours of academic life were not for him and, after just six weeks, he dropped out of his politics course in favour of a riding career.

A handful of rides for his uncle, Patrick Chamings, and Andrew Balding yielded his first winner, Western Roots, in an amateur riders’ handicap at Newbury in August, 2008 and he was on his way. The following summer, de Boinville approached Lambourn trainer Nicky Henderson, who offered him work, but no guarantee of race rides.

The rest, as they say, is history. After a slow start, de Boinville gradually increased his winning tally season-by-season and, in 2014, turned professional. On Boxing Day that year, he rode his first Grade 1 winner, Coneygree, in the Kauto Star Novices’ Chase at Kempton and completed a notable double when winning the Cheltenham Gold Cup on the same horse the following March.

Which were the top five American racehorses of all time?

American humourist Will Rogers once said, ‘A difference of opinion is what makes horse racing and missionaries’. It’s that same ‘difference of opinion’ that makes compiling a definitive list of the top five American racehorses of all time an impossibility. The best we can do, really, is to make a few, entirely subjective, suggestions based on the general consensus. Of course, the U.S. Racing season inevitably revolves around the Triple Crown races – namely the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes – so it should come as no surprise that Triple Crown winners figure prominently among our suggestions.

That said, arguably the greatest American racehorse of the twentieth century, Man O’ War, did not contest, never mind win, the Kentucky Derby. His owner, Samuel Riddle, reportedly expressed concerns about the mile-and-a-quarter distance so early in the year and about the proximity of the Kentucky Derby to the Preakness Stakes, which was just ten days away. Nevertheless, Man O’War did win the other two Triple Crown races in 1920. In the Belmont Stakes, he beat sole rival Donnacona by 20 lengths and, in so doing, set a world record time that would stand for 50 years. All told, Man O’War won 20 of his 21 races and just shy of $250,000 in prize money.

Hailed as the greatest American racehorse since Man O’War and, like his predecessor, nicknamed ‘Big Red’, Secretariat won the Triple Crown in 1973, making him the ninth horse to do so. His career-defining moment came in the Belmont Stakes, in which he beat Twice A Prince by 31 lengths in a time of 2 minutes and 24 seconds, thereby smashing the previous track record for a mile and a half set by Gallant Man in 1957. Secretariat raced for just 16 months, but won 16 of his 21 races and a record $1.32 million in prize money.

For numbers three, four and five in the list, we suggest the tenth and eleventh winners of the Triple Crown, Seattle Slew and Affirmed, and Spectacular Bid, who won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes, but was beaten, under controversial circumstances, in the Belmont Stakes. Seattle Slew, a.k.a. the ‘People’s Horse’, won the Triple Crown in 1974 and had the distinction of doing so with a undefeated record. Affirmed won the Triple Crown in 1978 and his rivalry with Alydar, whom he met on ten occasions in all, became legendary. Spectacular Bid was the victim of an ill-judged ride by jockey Ron Franklin on his Triple Crown attempt but, nonetheless, won 26 of his 30 races and $2.78 million in prize money.

 

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