★ The Derby

01Pourquoi c'est important

Epsom is the oldest surviving championship for three-year-olds and the model for the Kentucky Derby and a dozen other national derbies. In our reading the Hill keeps the day honest: one of very few occasions of this stature that anybody can attend for nothing.

02La semaine environnante

Epsom fills on both days and the downs become a temporary encampment of buses, food stalls and a funfair. Unlike Ascot, the festival does not reshape central London.

03Quand arriver

Come out for the day: arrive by late morning for a place at the rail on the Hill, and note that Friday's Oaks card is quieter and better racing.

04Où séjourner

London is the base — anywhere on the South Western Railway corridor is within forty minutes — while Epsom's own hotel stock is limited.

05Accès et hospitalité

The Jockey Club sells reserved grandstand admission alongside boxes and dining packages, while the Hill remains free on foot, with charged car parking sold in advance under a published picnic policy.

06Où se déroule l'activité sociale

The paddock and winner's enclosure in front of the Queen Elizabeth II Stand, the grandstand terraces, and the Hill, with open-top buses parked along the rail.

07Comment s'y rendre

08Informations pratiques

09Historique

The race was created in 1780, the year after the Oaks; a coin toss is said to have settled whether it would carry the Earl of Derby's name or Sir Charles Bunbury's, whose horse Diomed won the first running. It moved to the first Saturday in June from 2003.

10Qui s'y trouve

Owners, breeders and trainers of the classic generation, with a strong Irish contingent; the British bloodstock trade; and a very large public on the Hill, local to Surrey and south London.