Derbies past and present

My first Epsom Derby in the sense of my being aware that there was a Derby was Exbury's in 1963. But by 1964 I was warming to the subject. I backed Santa Claus at 9/4. It was ridden by Scobie Breasley.

Many years later I sat adjacent to John Sunley at dinner and who recounted how his father Bernard Sunley had bet something like £10,000

(perhaps £200,000 now) in then money at 6/1 - I think with William Hill. Richard Tice, the deputy chairman of Reform UK is a grandson of Bernard.

This year the Gosdens have sacked their jockey for finishing second in the 2000 Guineas o. This may be fair - I do not know. But Charlie Appleby, no prospective victim of hubris, has Desert Flower in The Oaks (6th June) at around 3/1 and Ruling Court in the Derby (7th June) at around 5/1. This is surely time to trade on both.