PUBLISHED: 16:49 EST, 1 June 2013 | UPDATED: 18:36 EST, 1 June 2013

With a wide-brimmed black hat and a conservative monochrome dress, Elaine Burke did not consider herself as an overt campaigner for women when she pulled up at Epsom trailing a horsebox on Saturday morning.

Not in the way tragic suffragette Emily Davison did when she arrived exactly 100 years ago.

But when Libertarian the horse Burke trains in Yorkshire crossed the line in second and still quickening to achieve the best ever finish for a female-trained horse in the Derby, she acknowledged the significance.

Close: Libertarian (left) finished second in the Derby on Saturday behind Ruler of the World

Achievement: Trainer Elaine Burke

Its nice to do it for the ladies, said Burke. Its the closest any woman has come to winning the Derby.

It is a century since Davison was fatally injured when she ran on to the course at Tattenham Corner and was pulled under a horse owned by King George V.

The monarchs granddaughter, The Queen, was at Epsom on Sunday, clad in pale blue and peering from her balcony as the big screen played a montage of Davison photographs.

It was a nod to the 100th anniversary of her death, but there was no finer tribute to the sacrifices made by the suffragettes than Burkes runner-up place.

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Libertarian's Derby second place is highest ever finish by female-trained horse (Elaine Burke)