Eclipse

IT is not just the Derby for which Epsom is renowned. Some 11 years before the great race was inaugurated in 1780, a well-known rogue stood in the Betting Ground on the famous Downs and uttered a phrase that would go down in racing folklore.

“Eclipse first, the rest nowhere,” proclaimed Dennis O’Kelly to bookmakers in attendance on 3 May 1769.

Then, a five-year-old Eclipse had just won the first heat of the Noblemen and Gentlemen’s Plate over four miles on his debut. The second heat was imminent, and with Eclipse having endorsed rumours he was out of the ordinary, bookmakers were taking no chances. They were asking for odds of 1-4 until Dennis piped up.

His use of the word “nowhere” alluded to the official finishing positions in heat two. A marker was sited 240 yards before the winning post. Should any horse not reach that marker by the time the winner crossed the line, the beaten horse was said to have been “distanced”. His finishing position went unrecorded; he finished “nowhere”.

Over in the Betting Ground, Dennis ventured that none of Eclipse’s four opponents