Auguste Rodin won last year's Derby for Aidan O'Brien. Photo: Reuters/Peter Ciborra
The Derby is the biggest race of the Flat season and the most important of the British classics.
Officially for three-year-old colts and mares – although the latter rarely compete – the race is run over one mile four furlongs and 10 yards at Epsom Downs, a particularly undulating course with a pronounced slope towards the rails in the finishing straight.
The Derby is the third of five classic British racing events. The others are the Oaks, which is for mares only and is held the day before at Epsom, the 2000 Guineas, the 1000 Guineas (both at Newmarket) and the St Leger at Doncaster.
The richest horse racing in Britain is on the Flat. has been staged since 1780, and this year will be the highlight of a two-day festival at Epsom Downs Racecourse, attracting an estimated 130,000 spectators. The Derby has been held annually for 243 years, but was moved to Newmarket in 1915-18 and 1940-45.
This year's race is worth £1.5 million and the winner will take home £850,650 prize money Check out the latest odds here and the latest news here.
Epsom Derby 2024 competitors and riders: full list of horses Read more What date will the Epsom Derby take place?
This year the race will take place on Saturday 1 June, the second day of the Betfred Derby Festival. The Oaks and Coronation Cup tournaments will take place the day before.
What time does the race start?
This year the race will return to its normal start time of 4:30 p.m. Last year the race was moved earlier to avoid a direct clash with the FA Cup final.
Which TV channel is this on?
The race will be shown live on ITV1 and will also be available via Racing TV subscription. By law, the Derby is one of only two races that must be shown on free-to-air television in the UK. The other is the Grand National.
Will the King and Queen have horses to race?
The King and Queen will not be running in the Derby this year but could potentially have a horse in both the Coronation Cup and Oaks on Friday May 3 – the day before the Derby.
There has never been a Royal Derby winner. The closest it came was in 1953, when Halo finished second just days after Queen Elizabeth II's coronation.
Who is the most successful current trainer?
Aidan O'Brien is the most successful trainer in Derby's 243 years , winning nine times, along with Galileo (2001), High Chaparral (2002), Camelot (2012), Ruler of the World (2013), Australia (2014). , Wings of Eagles (2017), Anthony Van Dyck (2019), Serpentine (2020) and Auguste Rodin (2023).
O'Brien has plenty of chances in this year's race, with five of the top 10 in the market trained at his Tipperary yard.
Full details of this year's entries can be found in our runners and riders guide.
Which horse won last year?
Last year the race was won by Auguste Rodin at 9/2, trained by Aiden O'Brien and owned by Ms John Magnier, Michael Tabor and Derrick Smith.
There can never be repeat Derby winners because the race is only for three-year-olds.
What are the latest odds?
The eight best horses on the market.
- City of Troy 2/1
- Friendly atmosphere4/1
- Los Angeles5/1
- Ancient Wisdom 10 /1
- Dancing Twins 12/1
- Macduff 14 /1
- Diego Velazquez14/1
- Bellum Justum20 /1
- Deira Mile25/1
- Voyage 33/1
Updated May 23 – odds courtesy of Bet365
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Tabletalk added to runner list 3f9172fa46c0.html?direct=true&id=9d28ee19-7b5b-4ab0-8c3d-3f9172fa46c0' class='tmg-particle embed wrp-9d28ee19-7b5b-4ab0-8c3d-3f9172fa46c0' title='Marcus Armitage, racing correspondent' – type='editorial' loading='eager' scroll='no' Frameborder='0'allow='web-share' style='width: 100%; min-width: 100%; border: none; position: relative; display: block; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;'>
The final field for the 245th Betfred Derby began to take shape on Saturday with all the big guns standing in Saturday's Classic, with all-weather Chelmsford winner Tabletalk added to £75,000. That leaves 20 foals who will advance to Thursday's 48-hour final confirmation and draw.
Although Aidan O'Brien only expects to compete in three (City of Troy, Los Angeles and Euphoric), the he also had Illinois, Diego Valazquez and Portland remaining in the race. However, with no other eliminations, this will leave a higher-than-average field of 17 players, making a good draw on Thursday even more important.
The largest number of entrants ever lined up for the Derby. in 1862 they were 34, but were sometimes started in two lines until stalls were introduced in the 1960s. These days the maximum number of fields for safety reasons is 20.
Speaking of the inclusion of Tabletalk, a son of Derby-winning stallion Camelot, his trainer Tom Clover said: “He has a very athletic owner who is keen to give it a try. He is a lovely horse who seems to be improving. A mile and a half should be fine, I think he's versatile on dirt and I'm looking forward to getting him onto grass.
“I know it's a huge step up in class, we've got James Doyle got caution and I hope he runs a really good race.”
This is Clover's first Derby run, although he ran the Rogue Millenium in the Oaks two years ago. Like Tabletalk, it was only her third start and after briefly taking a two-out lead, she gave way in the seventh after Tuesday but continued to prove she is a Group One player.
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