The same prestige that the Kentucky Derby has in the United States the Epsom Derby has in England. Part of the “five classics” (British version of the Triple Crown), the race began as the Oaks Stakes by Edward Smith-Stanley, 12th Earl of Derby, and ran at The Oaks Park, just east of Epsom. Smith-Stanley had organized a small one and a half mile race for himself and a few friends and their three-year-old fillies. The event had unexpected success, and he decided to make it an annual tradition.

On this day, June 2, in 1789, The Epsom Derby, one of the most prestigious horse races in all of UK, ran for the first time. The name “Epsom Derby” came from the first wager at the park: Smith-Stanley and Sir Charles Bunbury, a well-known racer of the day and friend of the Earl’s, flipped a coin for naming honors. The Earl won.

One of the most famous names to ever ride in the Epsom Derby was Lester Piggott. He rode in the event on thirty-eight occasions, winning nine of them. Piggott won his first Epsom Derby at 18, making him the youngest ever to win the event, and all told spent 47 years in the saddle, claiming more than 5,000 victories in more than 30 countries. But he always came back to where he started, the Oaks Park.