Parmesan won the Gold Vase at Royal Ascot and became a highly successful stallion siring, in addition to Favonius, the 1871 Derby winner Cremorne.

[1] Favonius’s dam Zephyr, was a full sister to Hannah,[2] who won the Fillies’ Triple Crown in “The Baron’s Year”.

Until 1946, British racehorses were allowed to race without being officially named, and until shortly before his Derby win, Favonius was known as “The Zephyr Colt”.

[3] In the Derby at Epsom, the newly named colt started at odds of 9/1 in a field of seventeen runners, with Bothwell being made the 2/1 favourite.

[5] Ridden by Tom French, Favonius made little show in the early stages, but moved up to track the leaders entering the straight.

He made steady progress to take the lead inside the final furlong and won easily[6] by one and a half lengths from Albert Victor and King of the Forest who dead-heated for second place.

The win was extremely popular with the huge crowd, and the Baron, identifiable by his white hat was mobbed by wellwishers as he attempted to return to his carriage.

At Ascot in June he started 2/5 favourite for the Gold Cup in front of a crowd which included the Prince of Wales and many other members of the British aristocracy.

[19] In May 1886 The Sporting Times carried out a poll of one hundred racing experts to create a ranking of the best British racehorses of the 19th century.