Which horse holds the course record for the Derby?

The record for the widest winning margin in the history of the Derby is still held by Shergar, who cantered home ten lengths ahead of his nearest rival, Glint Of Gold, in 1981. Interestingly, though, while Shergar was visually highly impressive, his winning time of 2 minutes 44.21 seconds was the slowest since Airborne covered the mile-and-a-half Derby Course in 2 minutes 44.6 seconds, on soft going, in 1946.

Shergar was, of course, trained by Michael Stoute; as Sir Michael Stoute, following his knighthood for services to tourism in his native Barbados in 1998, he also saddled the 2010 Derby winner, Workforce, who recorded the fastest winning time in the history of the Epsom Classic. Despite being one of the least experienced horses in the field, the twice-raced son of King’s Best tackled the long-time leader At First Sight with just over a furlong to run and soon went clear, staying on well in the closing stages to win by seven lengths. On the prevailing good to firm going, his winning time of 2 minutes 31.33 seconds eclipsed the previous course record of 2 minutes 32.31 seconds, set by Cartier Champion Three-year-old Colt, Lammtarra, in 1995.