The 222nd Derby will be run on Saturday, June 9th. The race is the most famous of the five English Classics, inaugurated on May 4th, 1780, by the 12th Earl of Derby, and won that year by Diomed.
It has been held on Epsom Downs every year since, except for two periods during the wars when it was run at Newmarket, so that the odds would not be interfered with by the distracting noise of international conflict. It is the ultimate racing test for three-year-old colts, attracting only the best horses to run over one mile and four furlongs.
Usually the elements in late May or early June oblige with pleasant weather - but not always. There have been quite disastrous Derby Days, and the very worst was that which fell 90 years ago today, on May 31st, 1911.
That 132nd race, the "Coronation Derby", was so called because King George V was to be crowned a few days later. A sudden thunderstorm which erupted in the afternoon caused panic, chaos, and a sudden death for some.
Much of the month of May that year was fine, hot and settled, but the weather broke and turned very thundery in the final days. During the afternoon of the 31st, the event itself took place in very warm, humid conditions, and was won, appropriately enough, by Sunstar. But shortly afterwards a fierce thunderstorm, with "hailstones as big as walnuts" and lightning at a rate of 30 strokes a minute developed over Epsom Downs. It struck terror into the racegoers as they made their way homeward.
"It was an inferno of water, mud, thunder, lightning and hail," the Daily Express reported. "Innumerable cars were rendered hors de combat, horses plunged with fright, confusing heaps of figures were inextricably jumbled together in narrow roadways, and half-drowned pedestrians, drenched cyclists, terrified women and children, and battalions of men were all helpless against the mighty powers of nature in one of her most savage moods."
These conditions were general over the entire southeast of England. Places in Surrey had over 90 millimetres of rainfall in the space of a few hours, much more than the normal monthly total.
"Lightning was very vivid and forked," another report went on, "and was at times right overhead. A boy and a horse were killed at Buckle's Gap, and eight or nine men sheltering on Banstead Downs were struck by lightning, several being killed."
It was the worst Derby Day of all time, and before the end of it 17 people and four horses had perished in the storm and in related incidents.