Relief and pride at a job well done were, according to Nevin Truesdale, the Jockey Club’s chief executive, the primary emotions at Epsom on Saturday evening after the 2023 Derby joined the previous 243 in the form book. “It is incredibly important that this race continues to take place,” Truesdale told Racing TV’s Luck On Sunday programme, “and that we’re not disrupted by illegal activity.”
There are, of course, other positives for the track and its owners to take from the 2023 Derby beyond the simple fact that it happened and Auguste Rodin took his place on the sport’s most illustrious roll of honour. The clash with the FA Cup Final which prompted the move to a 1.30pm start time will not be an issue in 2024, and it seems reasonable to hope that the train strikes which persuaded thousands of fans to skip their usual trip to the Downs will also be a thing of the past.
We have to assume, though, that the threat of disruption from Animal Rising or other activist groups is likely to remain, both at the Derby and other major racing events, as the traditional cycle of Flat racing Festivals unfolds at Ascot, Newmarket, Goodwood and York.
In terms of the immediate aftermath of this year’s Derby, civil proceedings are now imminent for damages and possibly also the cost of obtaining a High Court injunction 10 days ago which Ben Newman, one of the group’s supporters, breached by running onto the course shortly after the start of the Derby. Newman entered a plea of not guilty to a charge of causing a public nuisance at Guildford magistrates’ court on Monday and will reappear at Guildford Crown Court on 6 July for a plea and pre-trial hearing.
A trip to the High Court in mid-May to obtain a temporary injunction could become an annual feature of the Derby day preparations for a few years at least. Epsom, where there is a public right of access to much of the track’s downland setting, is a particularly difficult course to secure, but others which stage major festivals may also consider a similar move, despite the costs involved.
If or when we return to Epsom next year in much the same situation, meanwhile, both the Jockey Club and Animal Rising will have the experience of this year’s event to draw upon, and the indisputable fact that Newman got onto the course around 10 seconds after the field for the Derby set off.
This was a moment which changed the narrative of the afternoon and also, in all likelihood, the extent to which the Jockey Club will have any engagement with Animal Rising ahead of next year’s race.
At both the “doughnuts” meeting between the Jockey Club and Animal Rising in mid-May and again at the High Court when the Jockey Club was granted its injunction, the group insisted that activists would only attempt to enter the track between races.
“We’re a non-violent movement,” Dan Kidby, one of the group’s founders, said shortly after the High Court hearing, “and as part of that commitment, we will not be going onto the track when there is any danger to ourselves, to horses or to jockeys. It will be in between races and we’ve made that explicitly clear throughout, both to the Jockey Club and the general public, and to our supporters.”
This insistence turned out to be pish, as was the group’s claim on its Twitter feed shortly after the race that the race had started when a protester was already on the course. The video which accompanied the tweet – filmed, presumably, by an Animal Rising activist on the other side of the track – clearly showed via the giant screen near the furlong pole that the race had been underway for at least 10 seconds when the demonstrator ran on to the course.
after newsletter promotion
Either Animal Rising’s assurances in the run-up to the event were calculated lies, or the group is demonstrably unable to control the supporters to whom it had supposedly made its non-violent standpoint “explicitly clear”. And even on the latter, fairly charitable, interpretation of Saturday’s events, it should be clear to the loose assortment of individuals that “leads” Animal Rising that its calls to direct action inevitably risks putting both human and equine lives in danger at some stage, whether their commitment to “non-violence” is genuine or not.
Should, but probably won’t, because the Derby’s rich heritage, public profile and inherent vulnerabilities will continue to make it a very tempting target for activists, not least in order to boost their coffers via fundraising on social media.
Quick Guide
Greg Wood’s Tuesday tips
Show
Leicester 2.00 Hurt You Never 2.30 Tokyo Dreamer 3.00 Shazam 3.30 Thapa Vc (nb) 4.00 Theatre Honours 4.35 Fairbanks (nap) 5.05 Roaring Ralph
Southwell 2.15 Tango Boy 2.45 Limerick Leader 3.15 Darting Rose 3.45 A Definite Getaway 4.20 Dasher Riley 4.50 Appreciate 5.20 Jimvale
Lingfield 5.30 Regal Glory 6.00 Packard 6.30 Victors Dream 7.00 Dark Kestrel 7.35 Grandfather Tom 8.10 Greek Giant 8.45 Socially Shady
Wetherby 5.45 South Dakota Sioux 6.15 Mirrie Dancers 6.45 Passionately 7.20 Sophia’s Starlight 7.55 Optician 8.30 Magical Effect 9.00 Jenever
The group even set up a fund on Monday to cover the expense of repairs to the front doors of two houses raided by Surrey Police on Saturday morning, with the somewhat ambitious target of raising £10,000. It might be an idea to get a few more quotes first, not least with some hefty damages for breaching the Jockey Club’s injunction probably incoming.
And in the end, it may well be a risk/reward calculation that determines if or when Animal Rising decides to shift its attention elsewhere. The combined operation between the Jockey Club, Epsom racecourse and Surrey Police succeeded in defending our most important and historic Flat race on Saturday, but the final cost to individual supporters and leaders of Animal Rising in all the legal processes to come could be just as significant when thoughts turn towards Epsom and its Classics in 2024.
