T he Penfolds Victoria Derby at Flemington has a story dating back 167 years to 1855 in the gold rush era. We celebrate it as Australia’s oldest classic. Its name connects it to other famous Derby races around the world, the acknowledged champion races for the best three-year-olds of each year. The original was the English Derby, first run at Epsom Racecourse outside London in 1780. Derby Day in the English spring soon became one of Britain’s high days. Sydney’s Australian Derby, now run in the autumn, traces its origins to 1861, the same year as the first Melbourne Cup, six years after the first Derby at Flemington. The Kentucky Derby, the most coveted race in the United States of America, began in 1879. So many winners of these classics have gone on to become the great thoroughbred sires of future generations. A Derby winner carries true prestige. The Derby is the blue ribbon of the turf, so it is no coincidence that the Melbourne Cup Carnival flower for Derby Day is the blue cornflower. The Penfolds Victoria Derby is officially open to three-year-old colts, geldings and fillies. In practice, the best staying fillies aim instead for the VRC Kennedy Oaks. But in colonial days, nine of the first 22 winners of the Derby happened to be fillies. One was the brilliant Briseis who –
1948 Victoria Derby winner Comic Court, went on to win the 1950 Melbourne Cup for trainer Jim Cummings, father of legendary trainer Bart. (VRC Collection)
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