Epsom Downs Racecourse the turf. In the summer of 1779 Edward Smith-Stanley, 12th Earl of Derby, organised a race for himself and his friends to race their three-year-old fillies. He named it the Oaks after his nearby estate. The race became so successful that in the following year 1780 a new race was added for three-year old colts and fillies—-the Derby. In 1784 the course was extended to its current distance of a mile and a half and Tattenham Corner was introduced. Henry Dorling, step-father to cookery writer Mrs Beeton, was a Clerk of the Course at Epsom, appointed in 1840. In 1913
Pioneer Race Course race course was sold to the San Francisco Homestead Association in 1862 or 1863 for $500 per acre, but would be worth $20,000 per acre within a decade. Lots within the property were auctioned in 1864. Early houses built within the property are now part of the Shotwell Street historic district, and another house within the property may be the oldest remaining home building in San Francisco. On May 21, 1854 the Pioneer Race Course was the site of a duel between lawyer George T. Hunt and his friend Numa Hubert, an ex-member of the California state assembly. On the