On Wednesday 4 June 1913 fledgling newsreel cameras captured just over two-&-a-half minutes of never-to-be-forgotten British social & sporting history. The 250 000 people thronging Epsom Downs carried with them a quartet of combustible elements: a fanatical publicity-hungry suffragette; a scapegoat for the Titanic disaster & the pillar of the Establishment who bore him a personal grudge; a pair of feuding jockeys at odds over money & glory; & finally at the heart of the action two thoroughbred horses
- one a vicious savage & one the consummate equine athlete. Taken together this was a recipe for the most notorious horse race in British history. One hundred years on this particular Derby Day is remembered for two reasons: the fatal intervention of Emily Davison a militant suffragette who brought down the King's runner & the controversial disqualification of Bower Ismay's horse Craganour on the grounds of rough riding
- the first & only time a Derby-winner has forfeited its title for this reason. The sensation of Davison's questionable interference in the name of suffrage has overshadowed the outrage of Craganour's disqualification & the intricate reasons behind it. Now with a view to allowing this scandal the attention it deserves Michael Tanner replays the most dramatic day in Turf history
- & finally uncovers the truth of the Suffragette Derby.