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Apprentice and conditional jockeys are professional jockeys, in full-time, paid employment with licensed trainers, but are licensed as such because of their age and, particularly, because of their inexperience when compared to their senior weighing room colleagues. The terms ‘apprentice’ and ‘conditional’ are similar, but not interchangeable. Both types of licence are available to riders aged between 16 and 26 years, but apprentices are licensed to ride on the Flat and conditional jockeys under National Hunt Rules. To compensate for their lack of experience, when riding against fully-fledged professionals, apprentice and conditional jockeys receive a weight allowance commensurate with the number of winners they have ridden.

Apprentice jockeys receive a weight allowance of 7lb until they have won 20 races, 5lb until they have won 50 races and 3lb until they have won 95 races. Conditional jockeys likewise receive 7lb until they have won 20 races, 5lb until they have won 40 races and 3lb until they have won 75 races. Highly inexperienced conditional jockeys, who have ridden fewer than five winners, receive an additional 3lb when, and only when, riding for their own stable, thereby increasing their total weight allowance to 10lb. On a standard racecard, apprentice and conditional jockeys can easily be identified by the denotation ‘(10)’, ‘(7)’, ‘(5)’ or ‘(3)’ immediately to the right of their names. In any case, once jockeys have ridden the requisite number of winners, they are said to have ‘ridden out their claim’, no longer receive any weight allowance and are considered full-blown professionals.

In Great Britain and Ireland, nowadays, the term ‘steeplechase’ is used to describe a horse race run on a prepared turf course over a series of large, fixed obstacles, known as fences. The term was first coined in the latter years of the eighteenth century to describe impromptu races between hunting horses over open country, in which the most prominent featues in the landscape, that is, church steeples, were used to demarcate the course.

Of course, this type of ‘grassroots’ point-to-point racing still exists, albeit nowadays on courses constructed, temporarily, on working farmland. Steeplechases, though, are a mainstay of National Hunt racing and, as such, are run on a total of 40 permanent racecourses, covering the length and breadth of Britain, throughout the year. The first purpose-built, enclosed racecourse of this kind was, in fact, Sandown Park, which opened in 1875 and is, nowadays, home to the season-ending Bet365 Gold Cup, formerly the Whitbread Gold Cup.

Under National Hunt Rules, steeplechases are run over distances between two and four-and-a-quarter miles, with the longest all, of course, being the world famous Grand National. So-called ‘regulation’ fences – that is, the type found on racecourses governed by the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) – consist of plain fences, open ditches and water jumps. Fences are constructed from birch, spruce and other approved materials, to a minimum height of 4’6″, with the exception of water jumps, which, because of the expanse of water on the landing side, need only be a mimum of 3′ high.

In Britain, the Derby or, officially, the Derby Stakes, is a Group 1 race, run annually on the first Saturday in June, over an extended mile and a half at Epsom Downs Racecourse in Surrey, South East England. Open to three-year-old colts and fillies, but not geldings, the Derby is, in fact, the penultimate of the five British ‘Classic’ races, following the 2,000 and 1,000 Guineas at Newmarket in early May and the Oaks, over the same course and distance the previous day, and ahead of the St. Leger at Doncaster in September. Indeed, along with the 2,000 Guineas and the St. Leger, the Derby forms part of the so-called ‘Triple Crown’, although the last horse to win all three races was Nijinsky back in 1970.

The Derby has a long, rich history stretching back to 1780, when it was co-founded by Edward Smith-Stanley, Twelfth Earl of Derby, and Sir Charles Bunbury and named after the former. It has long since become the most prestigious Flat race run in Britain and, arguably, anywhere in the world. At the time of writing, connections of the most recent Derby winner, Auguste Rodin, collected nearly £886,000 in prize money, such that the ‘Blue Riband’ remains, fittingly, the most valuable race on the British Flat racing calendar.

Unsurprisingly, the roll of honour for the Derby reads like a ‘Who’s Who’ of three-year-old middle-distance talent down the centuries. Nijinsky aside, other notable winners include Sea Bird, Mill Reef, Shergar, Dancing Brave and Sea The Stars, to name but a handful.

Described by the Jockey Club as ‘the crown jewels of British Flat racing’, the ‘Classics’ are a series of generation-defining, Group 1 races, run over three different distances, on three different racecourses, usually between May and September. In chronological order, they are the 1,000 Guineas and 2,000 Guineas, run over a mile on the Rowley Mile at Newmarket on consecutive days in early May, the Oaks and the Derby, run over a mile and a half at Epsom on consecutive days in early June, and the St. Leger, run over an extended mile and three-quarters at Doncaster in September.

The 1,000 Guineas and the Oaks are restricted to three-year-old fillies, while the other three Classic races are officially open to three-year-old colts and fillies, but not geldings. However, it would be fair to say that fillies in the 2,000 Guineas or the Derby are few and far between.The 2,000 Guineas, Derby and St. Leger and the 1,000 Guineas, Oaks and St. Leger, respectively, constitute the ‘Triple Crown’ and the ‘Fillies’ Triple Crown’, although the former was last won by Nijinsky in 1970 and the latter by Oh So Sharp in 1985.

The term ‘Classic’ was not coined until 1815, the year after the inauguration of the most recent of the five races, the 1,000 Guineas, in 1814. The 2,000 Guineas was established in 1809, the Derby in 1780, the Oaks in 1779 and the oldest of the quintet, the St. Leger, in 1776.