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four miles , that the following year , a single race over one and a half miles for three-year-old fillies , would add some spice to the meeting . The race , named after Lord Derby ’ s country house in Woodmansterne , was first run on Friday , 14 May , 1779 . Open to three-year-old fillies , ( 8st 4lb ), at 50 guineas each and run over a mile and a half , there were 12 runners and appropriately , it was won by Lord Derby ’ s Bridget , the 5-2 favourite .
With now the inaugural races of the Oaks and Derby run , who could have predicted they would provide an uninterrupted line of winners , extending over more than two and a quarter centuries – the only two races in the world to do so .
The strange origin of Epsom ’ s rise to fame came in 1618 , when herdsman , Henry Wicker discovered a water hole northwest of the turnpike road , between Epsom and Ashtead . Although the water , thought to be undrinkable , was examined by local physicians , it was a further 12 years before the highly purgative qualities of the water were discovered – one gallon of water containing 480 grains of calcareous nitre . What followed was a product that became known as Epsom Salts , which at its height , sold at five shillings an ounce in 1640 . Samuel Pepys wrote in his diary of 1667 , “ We got to Epsom by 8 a-clock to the Well , where much company ; and there we light and I drank the water .”
Later , he visited the King ’ s Head , the nearest inn to the downs , “ where my Lord Buckhurst and Nelly ( Nell Gwynne , the King ’ s mistress ), is lodged at the next house , and keeps a merry house .”
Epsom ’ s earliest race-days were in the 1640s . In mid-May 1648 , during the throes of the Civil War , the Earl of Clarendon in his History of the Rebellion relates , “ a meeting of the royalists was held on Banstead Downs , under the pretence of a horse race , and six hundred horses were collected and marched to Reigate .” This suggests that for such an under-cover rendezvous to take place , racing at Epsom must have been a regular and well attended occasion .
Under the Commonwealth ( 1649-60 ), horseracing was banned , but upon its demise , the first recorded race meeting in the country took place at Epsom on 7 March 1661 , in the presence of Charles II .
TUESDAY 15 – SATURDAY 19 Royal Ascot Feature races ( flat ): Gold Cup , St James ’ s Palace Stakes , Queen Anne Stakes , Prince of Wales ’ s Stakes , Coronation Stakes , Golden Jubilee
SATURDAY 26 British & Irish Lions v Japan MONDAY 24 – JUNE 13 French Open , Roland Garros
MONDAY 28 – 11 JULY The Championships Wimbledon , Wimbledon , London
World Rally Championship
THURSDAY 3 – SATURDAY 5
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