People

By Guy D. Garcia.

His accent these days is a bit more mid-Atlantic than rural Kentucky, but Steve Cauthen, 25, was showing plenty of Yankee-Doodle dash in England last week as he became the first American jockey to win the fabled Epsom Derby in 65 years. Before a crowd of near ly 300,000 that included his father and Queen Elizabeth II, Cauthen led from start to finish over the mile-and-a-half course on three-year-old Slip Anchor, thereby becoming the sole rider to win both the Epsom and the Kentucky derbies. Ahead by 15 lengths at the final turn, "I couldn't believe my eyes," the 118-lb., 5-ft. 5-in. Cauthen recalled later. "I couldn't see the others, but Slip Anchor wasn't going flat out. From then, it was simply a matter of keeping the horse straight." Cauthen was saluted for a jolly good show by all except the British bookies. Offering 9- to-4 odds despite a crush of Cauthen bettors, they stood to get trampled for at least $13 million.

With reporting by Barry Rehfeld/New York, with other bureaus