What is the Coronation Derby?

The ‘Coronation Derby’ was so-called because it was run on Saturday, June 6, 1953, just four days after the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. Indeed, the newly-crowned Queen was in attendance at Epsom Downs, alongside her husband, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, to watch her first Derby runner, Aureole. Bred by the late King George VI, Aureole had finished fifth in the 2,000 Guineas and comfortably won the Lingfield Derby Trial, so was sent off a well-fancied 9/1 chance, behind 5/1 joint favourites Pinza and Premonition, in the Epsom Classic.

The eventual winner, Pinza, was owned by businessman Sir Victor Sassoon, trained by Norman Bertie and ridden by Sir Gordon Richards. Riding in his final Derby, after 27 previously unsuccessful attempts, Richards had recently been appointed to the rank of Knight Bachelor, for services to horse racing in Great Britain, in the ‘Coronation Honours’.

Watched by over half a million spectators, Shikampur, owned by the Aga Khan, led the field of 27 runners downhill into Tattenham Corner, but was gradually reeled in by Pinza, who drew away to win comfortably by four lengths. The Royal runner, Aureole, finished strongly to take second place, but was never catching the winner.

Richards’ maiden Derby victory was, understandably, greeted by deafening cheers from a frenetic crowd. Reflecting on the reaction of the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh and the Queen Mother, to whom he was presented immediately after the Derby, Richards said later, ‘There was no despondency with them. They were all tickled to death.’

Pinza subsequently won the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot, beating Aureole again, and went on to become the highest rated horse in Europe, according to Timeform. Richards went on to ride 191 winners in 1953, as a whole, to become champion jockey for the twenty-sixth and final time.