By Cornelius Lysaght BBC racing correspondent

Calling card: Voice of racing Epsom legend: The long fellow Ups and downs: Former champ

And down the decades it has seen a host of great characters.

Here's a rundown of some faces who will be in the limelight this time round.

THE QUEEN

The Queen is an Epsom regular, and is said to be one of the reasons that the race has not been moved to a Sunday (Her Majesty is not a big fan of racing on the Sabbath).

During more than half a century as a racehorse owner, the Royal silks have been seen landing every British Classic except for the Derby, though they were runner-up on Aureole in Coronation year, 1953.

STEPHEN WALLIS

The racecourse's chief executive has overseen the recent growth in the Derby's popularity and its status amongst major sporting occasions.

A crowd of 100,000-plus is expected this year as testament to his efforts.

Wallis insists that his biggest concerns are obtaining good weather and not being scared by the ghost of a nurse, a relic of the course's days as a wartime hospital, which haunts his offices.

KEN BATES

Football's Ken Bates and the music world's Lord (Andrew) Lloyd-Webber and Simon Cowell are amongst the 230 members of the Royal Ascot Racing Club that own Derby favourite Motivator.

Lloyd-Webber and his wife Madeleine are regulars, but Bates and Cowell, who are thought to be unlikely to make it to the big day, are less well-known in racing circles.

Motivator, trained by Michael Bell, is unbeaten in his three races to date.

SIR PETER O'SULLEVAN

The retired voice of racing on BBC Television, is the racecourse's and sponsor Vodafone's guest of honour this year.

Now 87, O'Sullevan commentated on countless runnings of Epsom's Classic races before his retirement in 1997.

And unlike most of his colleagues, past and present, he can rightly claim to have ridden around Tattenham Corner, albeit on a pony, during the 1920s.

LESTER PIGGOTT

Rarely misses the Derby, the race that helped to make him an international sporting legend.

Victory at the tender of just 18 in 1954 on board Never Say Die was the first of a record nine that also included St Paddy (1960), Sir Ivor (1968) and Roberto (1972).

However, his success in 1970 on Nijinsky was perhaps most memorable as that horse completed the rare Triple Crown (2000 Guineas/Derby/St Leger).

CLIVE BRITTAIN

You have to be up early to beat Newmarket's veteran trainer Clive Brittain, quite literally.

Members of the irrepressible 71-year-old's powerful string are known to pull out of his yard for morning exercise on Newmarket Heath before dawn.

Runner-up in 1989 with 500-1 shot Terimon, Brittain is represented this year by lively outsider Hattan, the mount of Seb Sanders.

KIEREN FALLON

Former champion jockey Kieren Fallon has the best record amongst those riding in the Derby this year, having won three of the last six runnings.

Now based in Ireland, with trainer Aidan O'Brien, the sometimes controversial Fallon will have the pick of the horses running for owner John Magnier's Coolmore team as he attempts to add to his winning record: Oath (1999), Kris Kin (2003) and North Light last season.

JOHN DUNLOP

Dunlop, who is double-handed in the Derby with Kong and Unfurled, is in his 40th year as a trainer, based in stables at Arundel Castle, West Sussex.

Tall and urbane, Dunlop, 65, father of Newmarket trainer Ed, has twice tasted Derby glory, with the brilliant Shirley Heights (1978) and Erhaab, winner of the last running of the Classic on a Wednesday, 11 years ago, in the hands of Willie Carson.

RYAN MOORE

Widely considered to be the up-and-coming star of the jockeys' changing room is making his Derby debut on Unfurled, winner of the Predominate Stakes, Goodwood's Classic trial race.

The impressive Moore, 21, son of the Brighton trainer Gary, and brother of jump jockey Jamie, is tipped to land one of the Flat's biggest jobs in the not too distant future.

DAVID HOOD

Bookmaker's representative David Hood, from William Hill, the company set to be Britain's biggest bookies following recent acquisitions, is anticipating another bumper day.

However, they can be caught out: 28 of the last forty two Derbys have been won by the favourite or second favourite, including last year, when North Light (7-2 jt fav) landed a considerable gamble.