How many times has Sir Michael Stoute won the Derby?
At the time of writing, veteran trainer Sir Michael Stoute, 75, has won the Derby five times, twice before his knighthood – interestingly, awarded for services not to horse racing, but to tourism in his native Barbados, in 1998 – and three times thereafter. His most famous Derby winner was undoubtedly Shergar, who won, eased down, by 10 lengths in 1981. Shergar was owned by Prince Shāh Karim al-Husayni, a.k.a. Aga Khan IV, and ridden by the late Walter Swinburn, as was Stoute’s next Derby winner, Shahrastani, in 1986. Rather unfairly, the 1986 Derby is remembered more for the controversial defeat of the hot favourite, Dancing Brave, than the victory of Shahrastani.
In any event, Stoute had to wait a while for his next Derby winner but, in the style of ‘London buses’, two came along together, in the form of Kris Kin in 2003 and North Light in 2004. Both winners were ridden by Kieren Fallon. Last, but by no means least, in 2010, Stoute enjoyed another wide-margin, ‘Royal’ Derby winner, courtesy of Workforce, owned by the late Khalid Abdullah. Ridden by Ryan Moore, Workforce was soon clear and in command, winning by 7 lengths in a time of 2 minutes 31.33 seconds, which still stands as a course record.
In horse racing, ‘Classic’ is used in its sense of describing a major, long-standing sporting event and, in Britain, refers to any one of the five historic races contested annually by three-year-old colts and fillies, a.k.a. the ‘Classic generation’. Those races are the 2,000 Guineas and 1,000 Guineas, both run on the Rowley Mile at Newmarket in late April or early May, the Derby and Oaks, both run over a mile and a half at Epsom in June, and the St. Leger, run over a mile and three-quarters at Doncaster in September. The 1,000 Guineas and Oaks are restricted to three-year-old fillies, while the 2,000 Guineas, Derby and St. Leger are open to both sexes, although the first two are rarely contested by fillies nowadays.
The 2,000 Guineas, run over a mile at Newmarket in late April or early May, and the Derby, run over a mile and a half at Epsom in June, constitute the first two legs of what is still referred to as the ‘English Triple Crown’. However, the third and final leg, the St. Leger, run over a mile and three-quarters at Doncaster in September, has fallen out of favour in recent years. In fact, the last horse to win all three races was Nijinsky, trained by Vincent O’Brien and ridden by Lester Piggott, in 1970.
Theoretically, there’s nothing to stop fillies running in the Derby, but the trend among modern trainers is to run them against their own sex, in the fillies-only Oaks, rather than against the colts, from whom they receive a 3lb allowance. Interestingly, in 2021, the Derby is worth £1,125,000 in guaranteed prize money, while the Oaks is worth just £375,000, but prize money is not the only consideration.