The man whose bloodlines left an indelible mark on the thoroughbred

Never mind its greatest breeder, full stop – by no means every reader would necessarily credit the 17th in the line even as the turf’s most significant Earl of Derby. There have been plenty of others, after all, since the creation of a first one for his artful vacillations at the Battle of Bosworth.

The 12th Earl, for instance, won immortality through the inauguration of a race for three-year-olds on Epsom Downs, if merely by dint – so it has long been said – of a coin tossed with Sir Charles Bunbury. He owned the eighth winner, Sir Peter Teazle, in 1787, later sire of four others.

His grandson, the 14th Earl, was three times prime minister and won four Classics, albeit not even the great John Scott could win him a Derby. And the present Earl, the 19th, gave the black and white silks renewed distinction through Ouija Board, herself since dam of a Derby winner.