Flemington

18 The 2021 Penfolds Victoria Derby writes a new chapter in the grand history of Flemington’s most coveted classic for three-year-old stayers. Derby Day at Flemington is, simply stated, Australia’s most anticipated race day of the year. With the racecourse at its glorious best, and with top-class racing across the card, it is the day the party begins. Consider the illustrious roll call of winners of the Victoria Derby itself. The list is graced by equine giants, the likes of Wallace, Manfred, Sailor’s Guide, Sky High and Tobin Bronze, Dulcify, Red Anchor and Mahogany. In a timeline stretching from Lantern to Efficient, seventeen Victoria Derby champions have also won a Melbourne Cup. The Victoria Derby pays homage to one of the world’s oldest classics, the English Derby first run at Epsom in 1780 – eight years before the First Fleet arrived in New South Wales. England’s Derby Day was to Londoners as Melbourne Cup Day became to Australians, the great racing holiday of the year. For us, Penfolds Victoria Derby Day is just the beginning. It declares the Melbourne Cup Carnival open. The Epsom Derby distance is a mile and a half. So too was the Victoria Derby until Australian racing converted to metrics in 1972. The nearest round number is 2400 metres, so this meant moving the starting barriers fourteen metres closer to the first turn. Dayana won that year, but in 1973 for the sake of fairness and safety the VRC extended the distance to 2500 metres, with champion Taj Rossi the winner. Officially the Penfolds Victoria Derby is open to three-year-old colts, geldings and fillies, at set weights. Fillies have a two-kilogram allowance. In practice they rarely contest the race, connections aiming instead for the Kennedy Oaks. Curiously, fillies won several runnings of the Victoria Derby in the colonial era. Briseis fromGeelong famously took the Derby, Melbourne Cup and Oaks in the space of six days. But it is now nearly a century since a filly triumphed in the Victoria Derby – Frances Tressady in 1923. The last to run a place was Born To Be Queen, finishing third as favourite in 1985. HOW THE DERBY BECAME DERBY DAY BY ANDREW LEMON A STORY FROM THE VAULT