Rolf Johnson mourns the ‘lost souls’ of the Downs on Derby day

Twenty-seven thousand five hundred souls attended this year’s 245th Derby. To repeat, 27,500.
I’d have kept schtum about the number; it’s not good propaganda broadcasting how unloved you’ve become.
For my 50th Derby I was on The Hill, in the centre of the track from where, famously, the Epsom Downs slope to the running rail. Infamously, the slope was becoming the launch pad for streakers – rebels without clothes; and rebels with a cause – Just Stop Oil, Animal Right...