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Epsom ups and Epsom Downs - The Derbys of 1924 and 1925

2025 marks the centenary of Steve Donoghue winning his fourth Derby at Epsom, with the race being run on Wednesday 27th May in 1925. In this piece from volunteer Peter Bloor, he looks back on the 1924 and 1925 editions of the grand event.

“Derby ‘tips’ – owners at the Press Club”

Two days before the Derby of 1924 the London Press Club gave a luncheon in honour of the founder of the race, the 12^th Earl of Derby, at which his descendant the 17^th Earl, and Lord Astor, spoke as rival owners. Neither felt able to tip the winner, Lord Derby only going so far as to say those backing his horse Sansovino would get a run for their money and Lord Astor that the best horse would win if it had the luck, adding wryly that while the Press Club could not guarantee that the winning owner had attended its luncheon “by inviting Lord Derby and himself they had tried to make it safe that they should have the owner of the second.”

Second among equals

Their Lordships did indeed have a most unfortunate record in the five races since its return to Epsom after the war, Lord Astor finishing second with Buchan in 1919 and Lord Derby with Archaic in 1920. Their misfortunes were then compounded by having runners against those ridden to victory by the great Steve Donoghue, who beat into second place Lord Astor’s Craig an Eran and Tamar in 1921 and 1922 respectively and then Lord Derby’s Pharos in 1923 to complete a unique Derby hat-trick.

“A most extraordinary position for our Steve”

However, in 1924 Donoghue was not on a good horse but on Defiance. His supporters backed the horse because he was riding it and cheered him in the pre-race parade but his pessimistic expression was a better indication of their real chances – and so it proved. Donoghue knew horses and he knew this one, and although the Daily Chronicle reported that he “made a bit of a display…for six furlongs, as if to suggest that he was good enough if his mount wasn’t” they duly finished dead-last – or perhaps they didn’t, Donoghue did dispute this soon afterwards and reports differed anyway.

“How Sansovino won for Lord Derby”

In his speech at the Press Club Lord Derby had mentioned the recent torrential rain which continued into race day and turned the ground to mud and slime on which spectators slipped and slithered and in which cars and buses were stuck - which Sansovino was not. In the paddock he had looked exceptionally powerful and during the race he proved to be so, making up ground rapidly as the field approached Tattenham Corner and leading halfway round it before increasing that lead with every stride up the straight to win unchallenged by 6 lengths. Much more of a contest was taking place behind him though, one in which Hurstwood lost the race for second by a neck to St. Germans, whose owner was – Lord Astor, in second for the fifth time in the last seven runnings of the race, his horse Blink having finished there in the last wartime Derby run at Newmarket in 1918.

“Press Club prophecies” of 1925

Speaking at the Press Club Derby luncheon of 1925 Lord Derby was more confident than he had been in 1924, assuring the guests that in its third year he would be first again with his horse Conquistador. On this occasion Lord Astor was not present but two trainers who did attend were very hopeful of his runner Cross Bow’s chances, Dick Dawson nominating him as the greatest danger to his horse Zionist and Peter Gilpin naming him as the winner while not discounting Donoghue’s mount Manna.

“You can take a straight tip from me…”

Donoghue knew that this year he was on a good horse, telling the guests with complete confidence that “Whatever beats me will win the Derby”, a race that was again run in filthy conditions and proved him perfectly correct in his analysis of the opposition - and Epsom’s master tactician. Occupying his favourite position on the rails he kept close to the two he knew to be the fastest, Dalmagarry and Priory Park, until they faltered, as he knew they would. This they did at the top of the hill, from where he sent Manna into the lead as the descent to Tattenham Corner began, a lead that was extended to several lengths by the time they entered the straight and to eight when they passed the winning post.

‘We looked in vain for the Astor colours’

Peter Gilpin had thought it possible that Donoghue would indeed win his fourth Derby in five years but, as Bouverie wrote in the Daily Mirror, “The one thing most of us had not anticipated was the complete eclipse of Cross Bow” who, as his jockey explained later, simply refused to face the wind and driving rain and finished seventh. In this he was not alone – Lord’s Derby’s confidence was also wholly misplaced and Conquistador finished twentieth – but yet again, while Donoghue was plotting his way to another Derby triumph, Lord Astor’s horse, though not second on this occasion, was nonetheless finding another means by which to deprive its owner of a Derby win, something he never was to achieve.

References

The quotes and other information in this article are taken from The Times, the Daily Mirror, the Daily Chronicle, The Sportsman and other newspapers 1918-1925.

Images – Lord Derby Gallaher 1936, Lord Astor Gallaher 1938, Steve Donoghue Godfrey Phillips 1923 and Park Drive 1935, Sansovino and Manna Players 1933: banner image Gallaher 1938