All The Queen’s Horses: Part I

In July 1960, the American sportswriter Red Smith visited Ascot Racecourse on his way to the Olympics in Rome. It was the occasion when Petite Etoile (GB) (Petition {GB}), a savagely good filly for the Aga Khan, was vying for the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth S.

Before his eyes, the ‘slightly bewildered yank’ watched as Petite Etoile went down in an argument with Aggressor (GB), all before an audience that included Smith, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and the Queen Mother.

‘Half the Royal family was on the premises,’ Smith wrote home, ‘and horse players were being so polite their teeth hurt.’

For Smith, the presence of the Royal family was material as good as Petite Etoile herself. He noted that The Queen was dressed in pink and Princess Margaret in blue, and ‘there was no sign of The Queen’s consort, Prince Philip, who leaves the family’s gambling to his womenfolk’.

That Petite Etoile was defeated after a nine-race streak (which included the 1000 Guineas, the Epsom Oaks, the Champion S. and Coronation Cup) was a headline, but it was certainly worth writing home about when it happened in front of the Queen of England.

Some 52 years later, in the English summer of 2012, Peter Moody discovered a similar overwhelm that comes with a Royal confrontation. It occurred at the same racecourse when Black Caviar (Bel Esprit), truly spent after a ding-busting, winning effort in the G1 Diamond Jubilee, ‘slumped towards The Queen’ for a pat in the enclosure.

In his book, Moody recounts that Her Majesty was genuinely interested in ‘this horse she’d heard so much about’.

“When she came over to see the mare, it was like a meeting of the two queens of Australia,” Moody said in the days after the race. It became a very famous moment after a very famous event.

Racing makes her human

For horse racing, the presence of Queen Elizabeth II at a race meeting has always spiked public interest, elevating the event to something more than just a collection of fine horses dashing on grass.

For those that meet her, it’s a story to tell forevermore, and Moody’s encounter at Royal Ascot in 2012 made the aftermath of Black Caviar’s victory that year so much more memorable.

For instance, how many news outlets carried the image of The Queen reaching out to the mare’s nose, and how many times did the trainer have to recount those moments in the enclosure? Her Majesty’s presence amplified the fame of that afternoon.

For decades now, the British public has been able to enjoy the Royal’s presence at its important meetings.

The Queen first attended Royal Ascot in 1945, and it’s only in the last handful of years that she hasn’t been able to go along. In 1953, just four days after her coronation, she headed to Epsom for the English Derby, cheering home her brilliant colt Aureole (GB), a son of Hyperion (GB), to second place.

It was a statement that the young Queen, by her own admission a racing tragic, would reign as a huge ambassador for horse racing, and that’s how it’s gone for the last 70 years. And, according to Newmarket trainer and turf journalist John Berry, the sport is richer for it.

“The Queen’s love of racing has pretty much guaranteed that anyone who is into racing, even if they’re not a monarchist, is definitely not going to be an anti-monarchist, just out of respect and affection for her,” Berry said. “One of the loveliest things about The Queen’s immersion in this sport, and her love of it, is that it’s a great way of reminding everyone that she’s a human being.

“When you see figures of state, it’s almost like they’re so far removed from normal life that it’s easy to forget they are normal human beings. But when you see The Queen on a racecourse, she’s the most human that anyone could ever be because she’s so passionate about it.”

In 2013, her humanity was obvious when Her Majesty’s mare, the gallant Estimate (Ire) (Monsun {Ger}), won the G1 Ascot Gold Cup at the Royal meeting. The pictures of a giddy Queen Elizabeth, sat next to her Racing Manager John Warren, were beamed around the world.

“So many of our biggest owners these days stand in the winners’ enclosure like it’s a business deal gone well,” Berry said. “To see The Queen so full of excitement and passion for racing, particularly compared to other top-level owners, it reflects so favourably on her.”

The sport of Queens

For a very long time, racing, more than any sport, has enjoyed the endorsement of the Royal family.

By its very nature, it’s been the ‘Sport of Kings’ for centuries, and Ascot Racecourse itself was founded by Queen Anne in 1711. Two hundred years later, in 1911, the traditional summer meeting became ‘Royal Ascot’.

Nat Gould, a devout turf writer of the late 1800s, and an Englishman who spent many years in Australia, wrote that ‘the splendour of Ascot on Cup Day is unequalled on any racecourse in the world; it is an object-lesson as to what the Old Country can do on special occasions’.

For Queen Elizabeth II, her involvement in the sport has been tireless, and it probably isn’t accurate to claim that it kicked off with her first racehorse, Astrakhan (GB) (Turkhan {GB}), who was a wedding present from the Aga Khan in 1948. Rather, Elizabeth spent much of her youth following her father’s interests around.

Astrakhan, however, gave the then Princess Elizabeth her very first thrill as an owner, winning the Merry Maiden S. at Hurst Park in 1950 when Elizabeth was visiting Malta. The filly was the future queen’s first flat winner and the catalyst of a long life in ownership.

Elizabeth had grown up influenced by racing through her father, King George VI, and, as a reigning monarch herself, her success in the sport has been excellent without being excessive.

Aureole was her first triumph, the ravishing colt running second in the 1953 Epsom Derby before winning the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth S., a race named after his owner’s parents. He also won the Coronation Cup and Hardwicke S., and he became a fine stallion at Sandringham Stud.

Aureole was the eventual result of a 1930s purchase by the Royal Family, a filly called Feola (GB) (Friar Marcus {GB}) at Newmarket Sales. She cost 3000gns and she wasn't particularly good on the track, but she proved a foundation mare for the Royal Studs.

Feola had 10 foals, the sixth of which was Angelola (GB) (Donatello II {Fr}), who eventually proved the dam of Aureole.

As queen, Elizabeth won the Epsom Oaks in 1957 with Carrozza (Ire) (Dante {GB}), and the 1000 Guineas at Newmarket with the brilliant Highclere (GB) (Queen’s Hussar {GB}).

Her filly Dunfermline (GB) (Royal Palace {GB}) won the Oaks in 1977 and the St Leger at Doncaster a short time after, and amid all these she’s had plenty of others.

“She had the runner-up in the Derby 69 years ago, and even if you start off with that level of passion, it’s hard to maintain your initial level of interest for decades and decades,” Berry said.

“But The Queen has. When Free Agent won the Chesham S. about a decade ago, she hadn’t had a Royal Ascot winner for a very long time, and the Chesham is one of the least prestigious races of the meeting.

“But she was as animated and excited as if it were the first winner she owned, and I think she turned to John Warren as if she were going to punch the air, and I’d say she wasn’t far off it.”

For a reigning monarch, these open displays of excitement are few and far between. For 70 years, Queen Elizabeth II has been perfectly poised, slow-moving and almost demure, as most regal heads of state are expected to be.

It’s a cute fact then that the only time she’s been seen publicly running was at Ascot Racecourse and, during the very early years of her reign, she used to take a gallop down the Royal Ascot straight aboard one of her trusted riding horses on the mornings before racing.

In 1961, she had an unofficial five furlong sprint with members of the meeting’s Royal party.

“Her passion aside, she’s done very well as an owner,” Berry said. “When she came to the throne, the Royal Studs had one of the best broodmare bands in the country, and all the leading studs of then have been at best marginalised and at worst disappeared, because racing has changed so much.

“If you’re not seen to have hundreds of good broodmares and you’re not pumping fortunes into it, you’re not going to be consistently competitive at the top level.

“Her Majesty can’t be seen politically to be pouring money into it so she has to control the expenditure, and I’d say therefore that the Royal Studs have lasted a lot longer and a lot better than many of the leading studs of the 1950s.”

The Royal touch

The Queen’s breeding interests are housed at the Royal Studs, Sandringham. It’s an impeccable estate lined with Redwood trees and broadleaf natives, the Stud itself founded in 1886 by Edward, Prince of Wales.

‘It’s little wonder that the members of the Royal Family, from King Edward downwards, are so attached to it,’ Gould wrote of Sandringham in 1910. The former home of the great stallion Persimmon (GB) was ‘in beautiful country, amidst such surroundings as are seldom seen even in this land of famous homes’.

Thoroughbred numbers at Sandringham are boutique these days because, as Berry said, The Queen cannot be seen shovelling a fortune into bloodstock.

In a 1974 interview recorded for television, she explained that her breeding interests were quite simple, in her eyes.

“I enjoy breeding a horse that’s faster than any other people’s,” she said. “Basically I love horses, and the thoroughbred epitomises a really good horse.”

For decades, the British breeding industry has enjoyed the attention of Queen Elizabeth II and, in return, she has given thoroughbred breeding plenty.

In a hot Australian summer in 1977, she made a visit to Colin Hayes and Lindsay Park, and she did similar on a tour of New Zealand in 1990 when she spent a day at Cambridge Stud.

The bones of horse breeding are of genuine interest to her, and she has homed broodmares in all corners of the world.

Highclere, her Oaks winner, went to Lane’s End Farm in Kentucky, while the five-time Australian Group-winner Sweet Idea (Snitzel), bought privately in 2015 by John Warren from businessman Nick Vass, is part of the Royal broodmare band.

Sweet Idea has already produced a winner for Her Majesty in the shape of Companionship (GB), a Galileo (Ire) filly that won in the Royal silks at Chelmsford two years ago.

For the race-going, race-loving public, The Queen’s investment in racing and breeding has endeared her, even in a climate that’s increasingly republican. Colonialism and monarchism are unpopular in parts of the world, but among racing folk at least, the Royal presence is celebrated.

“You will find some people who’ll say that racing is at a disadvantage being the Sport of Kings,” Berry said. “They’ll say that it should be called the ‘Sport of the People’, that we don’t want to be seen as being too elitist. But the reason it’s called the Sport of Kings is that it’s always had the patronage of the monarchy, and that’s been hugely to racing’s advantage.

“I think having a level of social cachet is still massive to racing. Royal Ascot is so popular, and people of all walks of society like to put on their best clothes and feel like they’re doing something quite special, which is what that meeting does.”

A long lifetime

You don’t have to be British to understand the legacy of Queen Elizabeth II in horse racing. All horse folk, from breeders to owners and pony club children, will know of Her Majesty’s equine obsession.

The obvious question, as The Queen sits on 96 years of age, is what will happen to that Royal interest when she’s gone.

“I would imagine that the Royal Studs will continue, at least in the short term,” Berry said. “With each generation, you just don’t know. But of The Queen’s children, Princess Anne loves horses and is very interested in racing, and Prince Charles is a lifelong horseman who’s also interested in racing. I don’t think he’d want to change things too much.”

It’s not a common conversation in Britain, probably out of respect for Her Majesty. It could also be that tendency of the British towards extreme politeness, something Red Smith noticed in 1960 at Ascot.

Either way, the recent week’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations showed clearly that The Queen is slowing down, even if she’s been defiant of it. She opted out of the State Opening of Parliament in early May, while patrons of the Windsor Horse Show were delighted a few days later when she showed up for a visit.

“Horses, in a way, have made her just like us,” Berry said, “and I think that’s lovely, and it’s been a lovely thing for people to witness all through her time on the throne.”

Queen Elizabeth II is now the longest-serving British monarch in history and, in 2015, she became the longest-serving female monarch in history, bypassing even her predecessor, Queen Victoria.

At times, it seems to surprise even herself.

“I don’t know that anyone had invented the term ‘platinum’ for a 70th wedding anniversary,” she said during her Christmas speech in 2017. “When I was born, you weren’t expected to be around that long.”

Thursday, Part II of 'All The Queen's Horses' will look at Her Majesty's interest in and influence of Australasian racing.