Whalebone was a British Thoroughbred racehorse that won the 1810 Epsom Derby and was a successful sire of racehorses and broodmares in the 1820s. Whalebone and his full-brother Whisker were produced by the prolific and important broodmare Penelope, and they contributed to the perpetuation of the genetic line (tail-male) of their sire Waxy and grandsire Eclipse into the 20th century. Whalebone raced until he was six years old and was retired to stud at Petworth in 1815. Whalebone sired the Derby winners Lap-dog, Spaniel and may have been the sire of Moses. Other notable sons are Sir Hercules and Camel, the sire of Touchstone. Whalebone died in 1831 at the age of 24 of hemorrhage after covering a mare.
Whalebone in a painting by John Frederick Herring, Sr., c. 1820
Whalebone was owned by the Earl of Egremont after his racing career and stood his entire breeding career at Petworth House. The horse statue on the table to the right of Egremont depicts Whalebone.
The Derby Stakes, also known as the Derby or the Epsom Derby, 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 on the first Saturday of June each year, over a distance of one mile, four furlongs and 10 yards, or about 1½ miles. It was first run in 1780.
The 1821 Derby at Epsom by Théodore Géricault (1791–1824)
Derby, the Paddock (1892)
Isinglass wins the Derby (1893)
The Derby Day by William Powell Frith (1858)