Phil Drake, a brown horse with a white stripe was bred in France by his owner Mme Leon "Suzy" Volterra.
He made his first racecourse appearance in the spring of 1955 when he ran second in the Prix Juigné, finishing strongly and narrowly failing to catch his stable companion Datour.
[1] In May, however, he won the three-year-old division of the Prix La Rochette at Longchamp in impressive style to establish himself as a Derby contender.
In the straight he produced a sustained run to move through the field, but was still only sixth entering the final furlong as the 100/1 Irish colt Panaslipper went clear.
[5] In their book A Century of Champions, John Randall and Tony Morris rated Phil Drake an "average" Derby winner.