Bjorn Nielsen: Alastair Down meets a man born into oppression eyeing Derby glory
Since ducks first decided that webbed feet were the future, the Derby was run on the first Wednesday in June. But there are indeed no certainties in racing and in 1995 it was switched to Saturday.
Next weekend our greatest race will finally hove into view on Saturday, July 4. At this rate by the year 2220 it could form part of the run-up to Christmas with racegoers welcomed into Epsom by a chorus of O Come, All Ye Faithful.
And on Saturday one of the most ardently faithful of Derby devotees will be on hand when Bjorn Nielsen, owner of favourite English King,
returns to Epsom, the town that was his physical home as a teenager and has been his spiritual home every breath-drawing day since.
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Published on 27 June 2020inInterviews
Last updated 12:36, 27 June 2020
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- 'There was a moment of rage - but he's a magnificent horse and it suits me that he's passed under the radar'
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- 'All of us who ply our trade training horses are dreamers - to put so much into it you must have a dream'
- 'There was a moment of rage - but he's a magnificent horse and it suits me that he's passed under the radar'
- When Patrick Mullins met Jack Kennedy: 'You could say I've been lucky - they're just broken bones and they heal'
- Richard Hannon: 'When you're dead and buried the only things you're remembered by are your Classic winners'
- Paul Carberry: 'I jumped up on to the rafters. It tended to be all very strait-laced in those days, but I changed that'