Flemington

19 While hot favourites and champions have won the Victoria Derby, so too have longshots, most notably the South Australian colt Rebel Raider in 2008, ridden by Clare Lindop claiming the race at 100/1. Derby Day at Flemington is treasured, over and above the race itself. In 1925, a reporter from distant Broken Hill said, ‘I always think that Derby Day is the best day’s racing of the year’. That truth has never dated. Nor has the classic elegance of Derby Day dressing, whatever the fashion. But when was the very first Victoria Derby? And when did Derby Day become that blue-ribbon day to open the Melbourne Cup Carnival? The race record dates back to 1855. It was the ‘Victoria Turf Club’ which introduced a set-weight Derby in spring for three-year-olds over the Epsom Derby distance. In a field of eight a filly, Rose of May ridden by Sam Holmes, was victorious. The Turf Club in that gold-rush era soon had a rival, the Victoria Jockey Club, which also raced at Flemington. Both clubs presented a Derby that year, the filly Tricolor winning the Jockey Club’s event and the colt Union Jack taking the Turf Club version. Luckily for simplicity, Brownlock in 1858 and Buzzard a year later won both races. In 1860 the Turf Club renamed its three-year-old race the ‘Victoria Stakes’, leaving the Jockey Club in possession of the Derby. It was won by the well named Flying Colours. Clare Lindop makes history as the first female jockey to win the Victoria Derby with an impressive victory aboard outsider Rebel Raider in 2008. (Slattery Media/VRC Collection)