Epsom Derby Epsom Derby The Derby Stakes, officially the Investec Derby, popularly known as the Derby, is a Group 1 flat horse race in England open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies. It is run at Epsom Downs Racecourse in Surrey over a distance of one mile, four furlongs and 6 yards (2,420 metres), on the first Saturday of June each year. It is Britain's richest horse race, and the most prestigious of the five Classics. It is sometimes referred to as the "Blue Riband" of the turf. The race serves as the middle leg of the Triple Crown, preceded by the
The Boat Race 1868 and the University of Cambridge (sometimes referred to as the "Light Blues"). The race was first held in 1829, and since 1845 has taken place on the Championship Course on the River Thames in southwest London. Oxford went into the race as reigning champions, having defeated Cambridge by half a length in the previous year's race and led overall with fourteen wins to Cambridge's ten. In February 1868, former Cambridge Blue Hon J. H. Gordon was found fatally wounded in his room from an accidentally self-inflicted gun discharge. This resulted in Cambridge University Boat Club president John Still requesting that