Of course, the Derby Stakes was famously founded by Sir Charles Bunbury and Edward Smith-Stanley, the Twelfth Earl of Derby, in 1780 and reputedly named in honour of the latter after a (probably apocryphal) coin toss between the pair. The race has always been run at Epsom Downs Racecourse in Surrey, but the first four renewals were staged on a straight, one-mile course; the wide, sweeping, left-handed turn into the straight, known as Tattenham Corner, did not become a feature of the Derby course until 1784, when the distance was extended to a mile and a half. Similarly, the Derby has always been open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies, although nowadays the race conditions stipluate ‘entire’ colts only; geldings have been excluded since 1904.
The Derby is the most prestigious of the five British Classics – the other four being the 2,000 Guineas, 1,000 Guineas, Oaks and St. Leger – and, with the winner collecting £892,160, at the last count, far and away the most valuable. Despite being run on the famously undulating, switchback track at Epsom, the Derby is supposed to produce a winner that is the outstanding middle-distance performer of a generation, whose name is, accordingly, etched into the annals of racing history. Nevertheless, for all the prestige and value of the ‘Blue Riband’ event, the names of winning fillies on the Derby roll of honour are few and far between, especially since the turn of the twentieth century.
In fact, the last filly to contest, never mind win, the Derby was Cape Verdi, way back in 1998. Owned by Goldolphin and trained by Saeed bin Suroor, the daughter of Caerleon, from the family of Nijinsky, justified joint-favouritism in the 1,000 Guineas when hacking up by 5 lengths on her first outing in the now-famous royal blue silks. Consequently, she was sent off as clear 11/4 favourite at Epsom, ahead of Grand Criterium winner Second Empire, trained by Aidan O’Brien, but, in truth, never really figured. Held up early, she met trouble in running on the descent into Tattenham Corner, but looked a non-stayer as she weakened inside the final quarter of a mile, eventually finishing ninth of 15, 12 lengths behind the eventual winner, High-Rise.
Overall, in 244 runnings of the Derby, so far, including the substitute races run at Newmarket between 1915 and 1918, during World War I, and between 1940 and 1945, during World War II, just six fillies – or, in other words, less than 0.25% of all the winners – have been victorious. The first of them was Eleanor, owned by the aforementioned Sir Charles Bunbury, in 1801 and she followed, in chronological order, by Blink Bonny in 1857, Shotover in 1882, Signorinetta in 1908, Tagalie in 1912 and Fifinella in 1916. The last-named, trained by Richard ‘Dick’ Dawson, won the so-called ‘New Derby Stakes’ at Newmarket on May 30, 1916 and followed up in the ‘New Oaks Stakes’, over the same course and distance, two days later. Thus, the last filly to win an ‘authentic’ Derby, over the traditional course and distance on Epsom Downs, was Tagalie in 1912.
Notwithstanding the existence of the Oaks Stakes, run over the same course and distance as the Derby, the dearth of fillies in the principal Classic essentially boils down to the commercial realities of the bloodstock industry. A colt that wins the Derby can command eye-watering stud fees as a stallion and, potentially, cover hundreds of mares a year. The 2009 Derby winner, Sea The Stars, for example, is currently standing at the Gilltown Stud, in Kilcullen, Co. Kildare for €200,000. By contrast, a filly that wins the Derby can only produce one foal a year as a broodmare and, as such, is a much less valuable commodity.