Emily Davison she had been force-fed. On 4 June 1913 Davison obtained two flags bearing the suffragette colours of purple, white and green from the WSPU offices; she then travelled by train to Epsom, Surrey, to attend the Derby. She positioned herself at Tattenham Corner, the final bend before the home straight. At this point in the race, with some of the horses having passed her, she ducked under the guard rail and ran onto the course; she may have held in her hands one of the suffragette flags. She reached up to the reins of Anmer—King George V's horse, ridden by
1985 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes Ela-Mana-Mou had also been ridden to victory by Willie Carson. The race attracted a field of twelve runners, seven trained in the United Kingdom, two in France, two in Ireland and one in Japan. The favourite was the Henry Cecil-trained Oh So Sharp, a three-year-old filly owned by the Sheikh Mohammed who had won the 1000 Guineas and Epsom Oaks. The Irish challengers were Law Society who had finished second in the Epsom Derby before winning the Irish Derby, and Princess Pati the winner of the 1984 Irish Oaks. France was represented by the former Australian Horse of the Year