It's the horses, the champions, and future champions, first and foremost that draw us each year to Flemington Racecourse. They are the reason for the celebration, the party, the fun and fashion, the crowds, the roses, the lawns, and the gardens.

The 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 – uniquely in Australian racing history – also won a Melbourne Cup and the VRC Oaks in the same week. 

Auraria almost matched this feat in 1895: she finished third in the Derby to the great Wallace, son of Carbine, before stepping out to win the Melbourne Cup three days later, and then the VRC Oaks. She ran again on the final Saturday, dead-heating with Wallace in the C.B. Fisher Plate. No trainer would dare follow that script today! 

In the 145 years since the victory of Briseis, only five other fillies won the Derby, and none since Frances Tressady 99 years ago. The last filly to be placed was Born To Be Queen in 1985.  

In earlier days it was no surprise for Victoria Derby winners to come out three days later and win the Melbourne Cup. Skipton in 1940 was the last to do this. He followed in the footsteps of Hall Mark, Trivalve, Patrobas, Prince Foote, Poseidon, Merriwee, Newhaven, Martini-Henry, Grand Flaneur and Chester, champions all.  

The 1995 Victoria Derby winner Nothin’ Leica Dane came close, finishing third to Doriemus in the Cup. Derby winners Phar Lap in 1929 and Efficient in 2006 also won a Melbourne Cup, but in the following year, as four-year-olds. Other Derby winners who went on to win the Cup as older horses are Spearfelt, Delta and Comic Court. Racing royalty, all.

Other Victoria Derby champions of the past? Almost too many to mention. Several stand proudly in the Australian Racing Hall of Fame. Next to Phar Lap, the mighty Tulloch rates highest. Then there’s Tobin Bronze, Sailors’ Guide, Dulcify, Mahogany … the list goes on. Last year’s winner Hitotsu joined a select company who could also claim an Australian Derby and a VRC Australian Guineas to their name. 

It is also a day to honour champion jockeys and trainers. Bart Cummings trained five Victoria Derby winners, and his father Jim, his son Anthony and grandson James one each. That’s eight for the family. But the training record belongs to James Scobie who prepared eight Victoria Derby winners himself, stretching from Maltster in 1900 to Hua in 1937. Jockey Bobbie Lewis was associated with six of Scobie’s wins, and won twice more, eight in total. 

Damien Oliver, within striking distance of Lewis’s record, has won the Victoria Derby six times, and the VRC Oaks seven times. Among the race’s most honoured names is Clare Lindop, the first woman to ride a winner of the Derby, on outsider Rebel Raider in 2008. 

For everyone at Flemington, Penfolds Victoria Derby Day brings anticipation and quality, elegance and style all of its own. It is Group-level racing, all day. It is the Melbourne Cup Carnival opening day. A day for champions.  

(main photo credit: George Salpigtidis/Racing Photos)