{, class="collapsible collapsed" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="clear:right; float:right; text-align:center; font-weight:bold;" width="280px" ! colspan="3" style="border:1px solid black; background-color: #77DD77;" , Also Ran The 2004 Epsom Derby was a

horse race Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic p ...

that took place at

Epsom Downs Epsom Downs is an area of chalk downland, chalk upland near Epsom, Surrey; in the North Downs. Part of the area is taken up by the Epsom Downs Racecourse, racecourse, the gallops are part of the land purchased by Stanly Wootton in 1925 and are ...

on Saturday 5 June 2004. It was the 225th running of the

Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby gai ...

, won by the pre-race joint favourite

North Light North Light (foaled March 1, 2001) is a retired Thoroughbred racehorse, and active sire, bred in Ireland but trained in the United Kingdom. He is best known as the winner of The Derby in 2004. He currently stands at the Adena Springs Stud ...

. The winner was ridden by

Kieren Fallon Kieren Francis Fallon (born 22 February 1965 in Crusheen, County Clare, Ireland) is a retired Irish professional flat racing jockey and was British Champion Jockey six times. Career Stable jockey to Henry Cecil In ...

and trained by

Sir Michael Stoute Sir Michael Ronald Stoute (born 22 October 1945) is a Barbadian British Thoroughbred horse trainer in flat racing. Career Stoute, whose father was the Chief of Police for Barbados, left the island in 1964 at the age of 19 to become an assis ...

. The other joint favourite Snow Ridge finished seventh.

Race details

*''Sponsor:''

Vodafone Vodafone Group Public limited company, plc () is a British Multinational corporation, multinational Telephone company, telecommunications company. Its registered office and Headquarters, global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It ...

*''Winner's prize money:'' £788,220 *''Going:'' Good *''Number of runners:'' 14 *''Winner's time:'' 2m 33.72s

Full result

{, border="1" cellpadding="0" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size:90%" , - bgcolor="#77dd77" align="center" , width="35px" , , width="45px" , * , width="160px" , Horse , width="160px" , Jockey , width="190px" , Trainer ^† , width="80px" , SP , - , 1 , ,

, 7/2 jf , - , 2 , ''1½'' ,

Rule of Law The rule of law is the political philosophy that all citizens and institutions within a country, state, or community are accountable to the same laws, including lawmakers and leaders. The rule of law is defined in the ''Encyclopedia Britannica ...

Kerrin McEvoy Kerrin McEvoy (born 28 October 1980) is an Australian jockey who is best known for winning three Melbourne Cups. In Europe, McEvoy rode several big winners for Godolphin including Rule of Law in the St Leger Stakes at Doncaster in 2004 and Ibn ...

Saeed bin Suroor Saeed bin Suroor (born 16 November 1968 in Dubai) is a horse racing trainer in Great Britain. He took out his training licence in 1993 and the following year was appointed as the trainer for Sheikh Mohammed's Godolphin operation. He has been ...

, 20/1 , - , 3 , ''hd'' , Let the Lion Roar ,

Michael Kinane Michael J. Kinane (born 22 June 1959, Killenaule, County Tipperary) is an Irish former flat racing jockey. He had a 34-year career, retiring on 8 December 2009. A prolific winner of the Irish, English and French Classic race ...

, John Dunlop , 14/1 , - , 4 , ''hd'' ,

Percussionist A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...

Kevin Darley Kevin Darley (born 5 August 1960, in Penn, Wolverhampton) is a retired jockey, and a co-president of the Jockeys' Association of Great Britain. He was British flat racing Champion Apprentice in 1978 with 70 wins and Champion Jockey in 2000 wi ...

John Gosden John Harry Martin Gosden (born 30 March 1951) is a British racehorse trainer. He has trained over 3,000 winners worldwide, including winners of the Breeders' Cup Classic, the Derby, the Arc, the King George, the Eclipse, and over 600 winners ...

, 7/1 , - , 5 , ''3'' , Salford City ,

Johnny Murtagh Johnny Murtagh (born 14 May 1970) is an Irish flat racing trainer and former jockey from Bohermeen, near Navan, Kells, County Meath. As a jockey he won many of the major flat races in Europe, including all the Irish Classi ...

David Elsworth David Raymond Cecil Elsworth (born 1939) is a retired horse trainer living in the United Kingdom. He was the trainer of Desert Orchid, 1988 Grand National winner Rhyme 'n' Reason, and 1990 Queen Mother Champion Chase winner Barnbrook Again; thre ...

, 8/1 , - , 6 , ''1½'' ,

American Post American Post (foaled 3 February 2001) is a British-bred, French-trained Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. He was one of the best two-year-olds of his generation in Europe in 2003, recovering from a narrow defeat on his debut to win his three rem ...

, Richard Hughes ,

Criquette Head-Maarek Christiane "Criquette" Head (born 6 November 1948 at Marly-le-Roi, near Maisons-Laffitte, France) is a retired French racehorse trainer. Known as Criquette, she was born into the Thoroughbred horse racing business. Her great grandfather was a jock ...

(FR) , 13/2 , - , 7 , ''1¾'' , Snow Ridge ,

Frankie Dettori Lanfranco Dettori (; born 15 December 1970), better known as Frankie Dettori, is an Italian horse racing jockey based in the United Kingdom. Dettori has been British flat racing Champion Jockey three times and has ...

, 7/2 jf , - , 8 , ''hd'' , Hazyview ,

Eddie Ahern Eddie Ahern (born 6 December 1977) is an Irish professional jockey, currently banned from racing for ten years by the British Horseracing Authority on charges of corruption. He was champion apprentice in Ireland in 1997. Career Ahern had hi ...

Neville Callaghan Neville may refer to: Places *Neville, New South Wales, Australia *Neville, Saskatchewan, Canada *Néville, in the Seine-Maritime department, France * Néville-sur-Mer, in the Manche department, France *Neville, Ohio, USA *Neville Township, Penn ...

, 40/1 , - , 9 , ''1½'' , Pukka ,

Darryll Holland Darryll Paul Holland (born 14 June 1972 in Manchester, England) is a United Kingdom flat racing jockey who has ridden for trainers such as Luca Cumani, Geoff Wragg, and Mark Johnston. In 1991 he was the British Champion Apprentice and won the ...

Luca Cumani Luca M. Cumani (born 7 April 1949, in Milan, Italy) is an Italian thoroughbred horse trainer and breeder. He trained at Bedford House Stables in Newmarket from 1976 to 2019. He has trained a multitude of high-profile horses, including seven Clas ...

, 10/1 , - , 10 , ''2½'' , Gatwick , Richard Quinn ,

Mick Channon Michael Roger Channon (born 28 November 1948) is an English former professional footballer who played as a forward, most notably for Southampton, and went on to represent the England national team in the 1970s. Scoring over 250 goals in his c ...

, 16/1 , - , 11 , ''nk'' , Massif Centrale ,

Dane O'Neill Dane O'Neill is an Irish jockey, who has won over 1,700 races in Great Britain over a 25-year career, including the 2015 Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot. Career O'Neill was born in Dublin, but brought up in Monkstown, County Cork. His uncl ...

, 100/1 , - , 12 , ''19'' , Coming Again , Michael Hills ,

Barry Hills Barry Hills (born 2 April 1937) is a retired British thoroughbred horse trainer. He lives in Lambourn, England. Biography Barry Hills had three sons in his first marriage, to Maureen Newson: John, Michael, and Richard. John (died 2014) was a ho ...

, 80/1 , - , 13 , ''1¼'' , Elshadi ,

Martin Dwyer Martin Dwyer (born 28 June 1975 in Aintree, Liverpool, Merseyside) is an English Epsom Derby winning flat racing jockey having won the 2006 Vodafone Derby upon Sir Percy. This was his second classic success after winning The Oaks aboard Casual L ...

Marcus Tregoning Marcus Tregoning (born 31 July 1959) is an English thoroughbred racehorse trainer, based at Whitsbury Manor Stables in Whitsbury, Hampshire. He originally worked as assistant trainer to Dick Hern. Tregoning began training horses by himself in 199 ...

, 25/1 , - , 14 , ''7'' , Meath ,

Jamie Spencer Jamie Spencer (born 8 June 1980, in County Tipperary) is an Irish flat racing jockey currently riding in the UK. He has been champion jockey in both Ireland and Britain and has won seven classics, five in Ireland and two in England.

Aidan O'Brien Aidan Patrick O'Brien (born 16 October 1969 in County Wexford, Ireland) Aidan O'Brien bio NTRA. ...

(IRE) , 16/1 * The distances between the horses are shown in

lengths Length is a measure of distance. In the International System of Quantities, length is a quantity with dimension distance. In most systems of measurement a base unit for length is chosen, from which all other units are derived. In the Intern ...

or shorter. hd = head; nk = neck.
† Trainers are based in Great Britain unless indicated.

Winner's details

Further details of the winner,

: *''Foaled:'' 1 March 2001 in Ireland *''Sire:'' Danehill; ''Dam:'' Sought Out (

Rainbow Quest ''Rainbow Quest'' (1965–66) was a U.S. television series devoted to folk music and hosted by Pete Seeger. It was videotaped in black-and-white and featured musicians playing in traditional American music genres such as traditional folk music, ...

) *''Owner:''

Ballymacoll Stud Ballymacoll Stud is a Thoroughbred stud farm of 300 acres in County Meath, Ireland. It is located in the townland of Ballymacoll, approximately two miles from the village of Dunboyne and four miles (6 km) from the town of Maynooth. Under th ...

*''Breeder:'' Ballymacoll Stud Farm Ltd *''Rating in 2004 World Thoroughbred Racehorse Rankings:'' 122

Form analysis

Two-year-old races

Notable runs by the future Derby participants as two-year-olds in 2003.

*Rule of Law – ''1st

Acomb Stakes The Acomb Stakes is a Group 3 flat horse race in Great Britain open to two-year-old horses. It is run at York over a distance of 7 furlongs (1,408 metres), and it is scheduled to take place each year ...

, 3rd

Royal Lodge Stakes The Royal Lodge Stakes is a Group 2 flat horse race in Great Britain open to two-year-old colts and geldings. It is run on the Rowley Mile at Newmarket over a distance of 1 mile (1,609 metres), an ...

'' *Let the Lion Roar – ''2nd Haynes, Hanson and Clark Stakes'' *American Post – ''1st

Prix Jean-Luc Lagardère The Prix Jean-Luc Lagardère, formerly the Grand Critérium, is a Group 1 flat horse race in France open to two-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies. It is run at Longchamp over a distance of 1, ...

, 1st

Racing Post Trophy The Vertem Futurity Trophy is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to two-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies. It is run at Doncaster over a distance of 1 mile (1,609 metres), ...

'' *Snow Ridge – ''1st

, 9th

Dewhurst Stakes The Dewhurst Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to two-year-old colts and fillies. It is run on the Rowley Mile at Newmarket over a distance of 7 furlongs (1,408 metres), ...

'' *Elshadi – ''1st Haynes, Hanson and Clark Stakes, 4th Autumn Stakes''

The road to Epsom

Early-season appearances in 2004 and trial races prior to running in the Derby.

*North Light – ''1st

Dante Stakes The Dante Stakes is a Group 2 flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old horses. It is run over a distance of 1 mile, 2 furlongs and 56 yards () at Y ...

'' *Rule of Law – ''2nd

Dante Stakes The Dante Stakes is a Group 2 flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old horses. It is run over a distance of 1 mile, 2 furlongs and 56 yards () at Y ...

'' *Let the Lion Roar – ''3rd

Dante Stakes The Dante Stakes is a Group 2 flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old horses. It is run over a distance of 1 mile, 2 furlongs and 56 yards () at Y ...

'' *Percussionist – ''1st

Lingfield Derby Trial The Derby Trial Stakes is a Listed flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old colts and geldings. It is run over a distance of 1 mile, 3 furlongs and 133 yards () a ...

'' *Salford City – ''1st

Greenham Stakes The Greenham Stakes is a Group 3 flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old colts and geldings. It is run over a distance of 7 furlongs () at Newbury in ...

, 6th

2,000 Guineas The 2000 Guineas Stakes is a Group 1 flat race in Great Britain open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies. It is run on the Rowley Mile at Newmarket over a distance of 1 mile (1,609 metres) and scheduled to take place each year at ...

'' *American Post – ''1st

Prix Omnium II The Prix Omnium II is a Conditions races, Listed Flat racing, flat Horse racing, horse race in France open to three-year-old thoroughbred Colt (horse), colts and geldings. It is run over a distance of 1,600 metres (about 1 mile) at Saint ...

, 1st

Prix de Fontainebleau The Prix de Fontainebleau is a Group 3 flat horse race in France open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and geldings. It is run over a distance of 1,600 metres (about 1 mile) at Long ...

, 1st

Poule d'Essai des Poulains Molof (Ampas, Poule, Powle-Ma) is a poorly documented Papuan language spoken by about 200 people in Molof village, Senggi District, Keerom Regency. Classification Wurm (1975) placed it as an independent branch of Trans–New Guinea, but Ross ...

'' *Snow Ridge – ''2nd

'' *Hazyview – ''1st

Newmarket Stakes The Newmarket Stakes is a Listed flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old colts and geldings. It is run over a distance of 1 mile and 2 furlongs (2,012 metres) on t ...

, 2nd

, 1st

Fairway Stakes The Fairway Stakes is a Listed flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old horses. It is run over a distance of 1 mile and 2 furlongs (2,012 metres) on the Rowley Mile at Newmarket i ...

'' *Gatwick – ''1st Haydock Silver Bowl'' *Meath – ''2nd

Leopardstown 2,000 Guineas Trial Stakes The Leopardstown 2,000 Guineas Trial Stakes is a Group 3 flat horse race in Ireland open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and geldings. It is run over a distance of 7 furlongs (1,408 met ...

, 2nd

Amethyst Stakes The Amethyst Stakes is a Group 3 flat horse race in Ireland open to thoroughbreds aged three years or older. It is run over a distance of 1 mile (1,609 metres) at Leopardstown in Ma ...

, 1st

Gallinule Stakes The Gallinule Stakes is a Group 3 flat horse race in Ireland open to three-year-old thoroughbreds. It is run at the Curragh over a distance of 1 mile and 2 furlongs (2,012 metres), and it is schedu ...

Subsequent Group 1 wins

Group 1 / Grade I victories after running in the Derby.

*Rule of Law – ''

St. Leger The St Leger Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies. It is run at Doncaster over a d ...

(2004)''

Subsequent breeding careers

Leading progeny of participants in the 2004 Epsom Derby.

Sires of Classic winners

North Light (1st) * Arctic Cosmos - 1st

St Leger Stakes The St Leger Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies. It is run at Doncaster over a d ...

(2010) * Celtic New Year - 2nd

Charles Whittingham Memorial Handicap The Charles Whittingham Stakes is a Grade II American Thoroughbred horse race for horses age three years old and older over a distance of miles on the turf held annually in late May at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California, USA. The event curre ...

(2011)

Sires of Group/Grade One winners

American Post (6th) * Robin Of Navan - 1st

Critérium de Saint-Cloud The Critérium de Saint-Cloud is a Group 1 flat horse race in France open to two-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies. It is run at Saint-Cloud over a distance of 2,000 metres (about 1¼ miles), and it is sche ...

(2015) * Ana Americana - 3rd

Prix Saint-Alary The Prix Saint-Alary is a Group races, Group 1 Flat racing, flat Horse racing, horse race in France open to three-year-old thoroughbred Filly, fillies. It is run at Longchamp Racecourse, Longchamp ove ...

(2009) * Liliside - 1st(disqualified)

Poule d'Essai des Pouliches The Poule d'Essai des Pouliches is a Group 1 flat horse race in France open to three-year-old thoroughbred fillies. It is run over a distance of 1,600 metres (about 1 mile) at ...

(2010) ''dam of

Lys Gracieux Lys Gracieux ( ja, 'リスグラシュー, link=no, foaled 18 January 2014) is a champion Japanese Thoroughbred racehorse. As a two-year-old in 2016 she showed top-class form, winning two of her four starts (including the Artemis Stakes) and fin ...

(

Japanese Horse of the Year The Japanese Horse of the Year is the highest honor given in Japanese thoroughbred horse racing. It is awarded annually by the Japan Racing Association (JRA). Since 1987 the honor has been part of the JRA Awards. This award originally started as p ...

2019)'' * Got Away - 1st Charnwood Forest Mares' Chase (2018)

Other Stallions

Let The Lion Roar (3rd) - Nautical Nitwit (1st West Yorkshire Hurdle 2018)
Rule Of Law (2nd) - Exported to Japan before relocating to Ireland - Minor jumps winners

References

*
sportinglife.com
* {{Epsom Derby

Epsom Derby The Derby Stakes, also known as the Epsom Derby or the Derby, and as the Cazoo Derby for sponsorship reasons, is a Group 1 flat horse race in England open to three-year-old colts and fillies. It is run at Epsom Downs Racecourse in Surrey o ...

2004

2000s in Surrey