The race is named after a house called The Oaks, near Epsom, Surrey, England that Edward Smith-Stanley, 12th Earl of Derby leased from his uncle General Burgoyne in 1778. At a dinner party held there the Earl and his friends planned a sweepstake for three year old fillies over a distance of one and a half miles and this was first run the following year 1779 won by the Earl's own horse Bridget. The race has been named thus since.