The New Gresham Encyclopedia

on a Wednesday, being the second day of the grand race-meeting which falls in the week after Trinity Sunday. The race is run on Epsom Downs, an extensive Surrey course 15 miles from London. The course is 1-1/2 miles, and the time usually about 2 minutes, 42 seconds. The entry money of each subscriber is fifty guineas, and the stakes are run for by three-year-old colts and fillies entered when yearlings. In the first year of the Derby there were only thirty-six entries, but they are now very numerous, and the value of the winner's prize is at least L5000. The race is the most popular of British sporting events. The Ascot races are patronized by royalty; the world of fashion is to be found at Goodwood; but Derby-day draws to Epsom a vast crowd of every class. During the European War the race was suspended, but a substitute Derby was run at Newmarket from 1915 to 1918. In 1919 the Derby was again run at Epsom, and was won by Lord Glanely's Grand Parade. In 1920 it was won by Loder's Spion Kop,