Two special guests will make the pilgrimage to Epsom this weekend to mark the 150th anniversary of the Derby victory of the Hungarian-bred Kisber, a sporting achievement still lauded in the country of his birth.Andras Krebs, the deputy director of Kincsem Park racecourse in Budapest, will attend this year's Derby with his wife Linda, bringing with them commemorative coins of Kisber's great win, which will also be given as prizes for this year's Hungarian Derby.In what was an extraordinary era for Hungarian racing, Kisber was foaled the year before the great mare Kincsem, whose name is carried by the country's major racecourse and whose record of 54 undefeated races remains unchallenged since her retirement in 1880 at the age of six. It is hard to imagine such a tally ever being bettered.“Kisber and Kincsem, those two horses, they are everything for us,” says Krebs. “And even for the people who don't know horseracing, all the people know Kincsem and Kisber here. They are sporting heroes of Hungary, like [Liverpool footballers] Dominik Szoboszlai and Milos Kerkez.”While Kincsem was trained in Hungary by Robert Hesp for her owner-breeder Erno Blaskovich, and travelled to win races far and wide, including the Goodwood Cup, Grand Prix de Deauville and the Grosser Preis von Baden, Kisber was sold as a yearling and ended up being trained in one of the grandest stables in Newmarket. Bred by the Hungarian Imperial Stud, he was bought at the annual Kisber yearling auction for £500 by the Turkish brothers Alexander and Aristide Baltazzi, who sent him into training in England with Joseph Hayhoe at Palace House Stables, which is now home to the National Horseracing Museum. By the leading Hungarian stallion Buccaneer, himself a son of the 1855 Derby winner Wild Dayrell, Kisber was said to be a backward colt and initially showed little in his earlier two-year-old races. He clearly started to shape nicely in the latter part of the season, however, and, despite still being unnamed, he won the inaugural running of the Dewhurst Stakes (then known as the Dewhurst Plate) in 1875. His victory is listed under the name of 'The Mineral Colt' as a nod to his dam.Kisber's ultimate success was no fluke of pedigree. His dam Mineral was a daughter of the 1856 1,000 Guineas winner Manganese, and Mineral had already proved herself at stud in producing Wenlock, the St Leger winner of 1872. Her Dewhurst winner clearly needed a name, and before stepping out in the Derby – his first run of his three-year-old season – he was christened Kisber in honour of his birthplace. Kisber is commemorated in bronze in his birthplace | Courtesy of Kincsem Park In the Derby he started second-favourite to the 2,000 Guineas winner Petrarch, who would later win the St Leger, with Kisber quickening clear of the weakening favourite to win easily by five lengths from Forerunner. Thirteen days later he added the Grand Prix de Paris to his record, though this would prove to be his final victory. Kisber, whose stud career saw him crowned German champion sire three times, naturally has an annual race run in his honour at Kincsem Park, and there are extra festivities planned for this anniversary year. “There is going to be a commemorative book and a Kisber Award in the second part of the season,” says Krebs. “And there will be a race named for his sire Buccaneer on [Hungarian] Derby Day.”There is not a great deal of cross traffic between the racing scenes of Hungary and Britain, though there is a Hungarian-bred currently in training in Newmarket in the stable of George Scott. Alther Walden, a dual-winning son of Study Of Man, was bred by the Babolna National Stud after his dam Alternanthera (Hernando) was bought with him in utero from the Tattersalls December Mares Sale.Some years ago Kincsem Park appeared in the formlines for one of the top sprinters in Europe, Overdose, dubbed 'The Budapest Bullet', whose globetrotting came close to emulating Kincsem herself when he won Group races at Baden-Baden and Capanelle and finished fourth in the G1 King's Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot in 2011. He was also first past the post in the G1 Prix de l'Abbaye which was subsequently declared void and re-run without him. Prior to that, the talented mare Maganyos, who was foaled in Hungary in 1980, had also flown the national flag with pride, displaying great versatility in her ten victories between 1,200m and 3,000m, on the Flat and over hurdles. Those wins were recorded in Britain, France, Italy, Germany and Swtizerland along with her home country, and included the Listed Prix de Creil at Chantilly and Chepstow's Listed Memorial Hurdle. She was a notable broodmare, too, producing the 1991 King's Stand Stakes winner Elbio. Overdose routs his rivals in front of his home crowd | Courtesy of Kincsem Park In recent seasons, Kincsem Park has hosted Frankie Dettori during his farewell tour and Hungarian racegoers witnessed the famous flying dismount when Dettori partnered Fitri Hay's Silent Film (New Approach), trained by Ian Williams, to win in the Imperial Dij, a local Group 2 contest. Last year, Jane Chapple-Hyam won that same race in Budapest with Claymore (New Bay), whose half-brother Balzac (Japan) is set to line up for the Derby on Saturday. This year's international day at Kincsem Park, which celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2025, will be staged on Sunday, August 2.Krebs says that there are roughly 400 racehorses in training in Hungary, with around 80 per cent of them based at the major training centre not far from Kincsem Park.“We have almost 100 breeders at smaller studs and well as a large breeding station [Babolna] owned by the government, which produces about 30 to 40 foals every year,” he adds. The Kincsem Park team of Zoltan Smulovics, Adam Szotyori Nagy and Andras Krebs at Goodwood with Ed Arkell (second left) The country's National Stud produces both Throughbreds and Arabians, and on the six-strong Thoroughbred roster at Babolna are some names which will be familiar to the wider European breeding industry. Dark Angel's son Gutaifan, who previously stood at Yeomanstown Stud and Haras des Faunes, joined the team last year after being sold through an Auctav online auction for €30,000, and he stands alongside Shadwell's campaigner Mokarris (More Than Ready), who was runner-up to Blue Point in the Gimcrack Stakes. Also on the roster is the Hungarian Derby winner Geza, an Irish-bred son of Sioux Nation, and French Group 3 winner Ecrivain, by Lope De Vega.What would be most appropriate is if the stud could one day end up standing a son of Camelot. If you go back far enough in the pedigree of the 2012 Derby winner you will find Kincsem as his 17th dam, the line carried through her daughter Budagyongye, by Kisber's sire Buccaneer. Krebs says, “It is good to be able to keep that bloodline going.” The post Kisber Remains the Toast of Hungary 150 Years After Derby Win appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.