derby day

 Anmer goes down in racing history not for winning anything special (he succeeded in just one small contest at Newmarket) but for being brought down by the suffragette Emily Davison in the 1913 Derby. She later died of her injuries. The jockey Herbert Jones was concussed but recovered; Anmer survived to be placed a few times and was never heard of again, and the first past the post, Craiganour, was disqualified. The eventual winner, Aboyeur, was later lost in the Russian revolution.

The National Horseracing Museum has a racing plate worn by Anmer during his tragic Derby run. It is now thought that Emily Davison did not intend to sacrifice her life, since she had a return train ticket in her pocket. Others consider that Craiganour's disqualification was politically motivated, since his owner was Charles Ismay, son of the owner of the Titanic.

Aboyeur was the winner of the sensational Derby of 1913, in which the first past the post Craganour was disqualified and the King's runner, Anmer, was brought down at Tattenham Corner by a suffragette. Aboyeur, winner of just one of his juvenile starts, was a 100/1 outsider for the Derby. He was a queer tempered customer to train, galloping loose on the downs on more than one occasion. His maternal grandsire Morion had been an absolute savage.

Aboyeur never won again after the Derby and was sold to Russia, where he disappeared during the Revolution. 

http://www.horseracinghistory.co.uk/hrho/action/viewDocument?id=1016

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2013/may/26/emily-davison-suffragette-death-derby-1913

http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/the-death-of-emily-davison/967.html

http://www.sporthorse-data.com/index.htm