A Guide to the Classics: Or How to Pick the Derby Winner

Originally written in 1936 by two young Cambridge Fellows, A Guide to the Classics is a light-hearted manual on how to pick the Derby winner. However, as the tongue-in-cheek title suggested, there is more to the book than meets the eye, especially as one of the young dons went on to become, according to his 1990 Telegraph obituary, 'the greatest political philosopher in the Anglo-Saxon tradition since Mill – or even Burke'.

The book takes the abstraction out of the Derby by attacking the systems which had been developed by generations of 'form' experts. It exposes theoretical solutions as fraudulent – instead it applies hard-headed empirical and historical analysis. Oakeshott went on to apply this methodology to his famous critique of 'rationalism' in politics.

This long-awaited edition of Griffith and Oakeshott’s classic text includes a new preface and foreword by horse racing journalist and author Sean Magee, and political commentator Peter Oborne.

Peter Alan Oborne is a British journalist and broadcaster. He is the associate editor of The Spectator and former chief political commentator of The Daily Telegraph. He is author of The Rise of Political Lying and The Triumph of the Political Class, and, with Frances Weaver, the pamphlet Guilty Men.

Sean Magee is the author of many books on horse racing, including Ascot: The history, Lester's Derbys with Lester Piggott, and Arkle: The story of the world’s greatest steeplechaser. He has collaborated on book projects with various racing luminaries, including Lord Derby’s book about the Breeders’ Cup-winning mare Ouija Board.