Epsom reveal £6m, five-year plan to revive flagging fortunes of the Derby

Epsom racecourse has announced a £6m, five-year plan to revive the flagging fortunes of the Derby, the world’s most famous Flat race, which includes a boost to the Classic’s prize fund to £2m, free admission to the main enclosure for under-18s, free parking and the installation of a bank of “bleacher” seats along the inside rail to give racegoers a “bird’s eye” view of the final three furlongs.

The Coronation Cup, for older horses over the Derby course and distance, will also be moved from the first day of the meeting to join the Derby on Saturday’s card.

The ultimate aim is to attract a six-figure crowd across the two-day meeting in 2030, after an official total of just 22,787 spectators attended the 2025 running of the Derby with an aggregate crowd over the two days of 37,599.

It has always been difficult to put an exact figure on the total attendance at the Derby as the race is staged on public land and admission is traditionally free to watch from “the Hill” in the middle of the course.

For much of its 245-year existence, though, the premier Classic is generally accepted to have drawn crowds well into six figures, and contemporary estimates suggest that up to half a million spectators were at Epsom for the 1913 running, during which the suffragette protester Emily Davison suffered a fatal injury after walking in front of the King and Queen’s runner, Anmer.

While there was an upturn in attendance after the race moved from its traditional slot on the first Wednesday in June to the first Saturday, including a modern-day record paid attendance of 53,177 in 2001, the figure for paying spectators has not passed 40k since 2007 and the slump has accelerated since the Covid pandemic.

In addition to the prize-fund boost to £2m, with £1m going to the winner, prizes for the Derby will extend to 10th place from next year’s race, and there will be eight-race cards on both days of the meeting with the Group Three John of Gaunt Stakes switching from Haydock to the Saturday card.

“Since the first running in 1780, the Derby has not only established itself as the definitive test of the thoroughbred, but as a race so prestigious that its name has been adopted worldwide, inspiring hundreds of races from the Kentucky Derby to races in Japan, Australia and Hong Kong,” Jim Allen, the general manager of Epsom Downs racecourse, said on Friday.

“Our aim for Derby Day in 2026 is to have somewhere in the region of 40,000 people across our paid enclosures and on The Hill.

“We know that historically it was said that 100,000 people would be at Epsom Downs on Derby Day, but while we want to aim high over the next five years, a realistic yet ambitious target would be to achieve that number over the course of the two-day festival by 2030.”

• This report will update with Greg’s Saturday preview later