Cover image courtesy of Cambridge Stud
Originally published in TDN AusNZ on June 10, 2022
In February 1954, just a year after her coronation, the newly crowned Queen Elizabeth II came ashore at Sydney Harbour. She was 27 years old and her visit, the first by a reigning British monarch, set off a long line of visits across the following 70 years.
What she showed was that she was committed to her duties as the head of the Commonwealth, and not just to her duties as the Queen of England. Elizabeth has visited Australia 16 times and, south of the Tasman, she has visited New Zealand on 10 occasions.
Like any devout horse girl, she has seemed to bring her passion for racing everywhere.
Queen Elizabeth in the Royal Box at Ellerslie, Boxing Day 1953 | Image courtesy of NZ History
In 1953, on her inaugural tour of New Zealand, The Queen went to the races at Ellerslie on Boxing Day. In 1992, she opened the Paddock Stand at Randwick and granted permission for the use of the name ‘Royal Randwick’.
By most accounts, Elizabeth wove these visits into her ceremonial obligations, and she was a useful and picturesque figure, one eye on the throngs of loyal fans and another on the racehorses going around.
“She’s very sharp,” said jockey Willie Carson, speaking during the Platinum Jubilee preparations this year. “Racing is her passion, and I wouldn’t call it her life but it’s her passion, her hobby. She really enjoys doing it.”
Cambridge Stud, 1990
In the summer of 1990, to wrap up the Commonwealth Games in Auckland, The Queen made a Royal visit to New Zealand. Squeezed into a hectic, official calendar of commitments, she insisted on visiting Cambridge Stud.
At the time, a young Marcus Corban was working on the farm. He’d been there 14 years and he had little idea that he’d spend the best part of 40 years at Cambridge Stud.
But in February 1990, on a very bright morning, he was there when Queen Elizabeth II showed up.
The Queen signs the Cambridge Stud guestbook | Image courtesy of Cambridge Stud
“It wasn’t on her official itinerary,” Corban said, digging up his memories for TDN AusNZ. “She contacted Sir Patrick and so we knew about two months out what we had to do to get the place looking spick and span.
“It was all kept very, very quiet and we really couldn’t discuss it, and that was the honest truth of it. Her visit wasn’t on the official itinerary but it was something she wanted added, and that’s what happened.”
“It (The Queen's visit to Cambridge Stud) was all kept very, very quiet and we really couldn’t discuss it, and that was the honest truth of it. Her visit wasn’t on the official itinerary but it was something she wanted added, and that’s what happened.” - Marcus Corban
Sir Patrick Hogan (his knighthood was granted in the year 2000) had already met The Queen before her visit in 1990. The studmaster knew what to expect, but for Corban it was a different story.
“I’d never seen so much security,” he said. “They came and checked the farm, the stables and the houses about two weeks before she came, and they came again the day before her visit. They came again on the morning with the dogs, and they had people down the road to check everyone out. It was unbelievable.”
The Queen with Sir Patrick Hogan at Cambridge Stud in 1990 | Image courtesy of Cambridge Stud
At that point, Cambridge Stud had been a local fixture since 1976. The farm’s foundation sire, no less than Sir Tristram (Ire), had arrived to the property the same year, and his influence was not only roof-raising. It was world renowned.
Her Majesty spent part of her four hours at Cambridge Stud with Sir Tristram, and the rest of it touring the pretty farm with its neat fences and impeccable grounds. She talked shop with the Hogans before disappearing for lunch.
“She came up to the stables to see Sir Tristram, and then Patrick took her for a walk with some of her entourage,” Corban said. “Before they went in for lunch, we’d put a couple of mares and foals into a lovely paddock next to the house, and so she came out after lunch and walked right into the paddock to inspect the horses. It was really quite amazing to see her touching them and looking at them.”
Sir Tristram (Ire) takes a look at Her Majesty during her 1990 visit | Image courtesy of Cambridge Stud
In the twilight of the visit, Sir Patrick decided to lease The Queen one of his Sir Tristram fillies.
The opportune youngster was a daughter of the brilliant mare Taiona (NZ) (Sovereign Edition {Ire}), making her a full sister to Gurner’s Lane (NZ), Sovereign Red (NZ) and Trichelle (NZ).
It was a barnstorming pedigree and the filly, named Queen’s Choice (NZ), went to Lindsay Park in South Australia, where she became her dam’s fourth stakes winner with a victory in the Listed Walter Brown S.
“Colin Hayes got that filly to a stakes win at her first start,” Corban said. “And that was the result of Her Majesty’s great visit to Cambridge Stud. It was a lovely occasion because she knew all about Sir Tristram and she knew the number of mares that Sir Patrick had bred. It was one of those days that always sticks in your memories.”
Lindsay Park, 1977
Over the years, many people, like Corban, have met The Queen through racing and breeding, and so many have recounted her knowledge and undivided interest.
It shouldn’t be surprising given she’s an earnest owner, breeder and racegoer, but with all the ceremonial duties she’s had to contend with, and all the names, places and facts she has to digest, it’s a marvel that she has put aside time to follow racing on the other side of the world.
Corban acknowledges this. He mentions that the other folks working at Cambridge Stud in 1990, the likes of Russell Warwick and Shane Keating, noticed Her Majesty’s passion too. She wasn’t at the farm that morning for squeaks and giggles; she was genuinely curious to see the place.
A young David Hayes opens the door for Her Majesty at Lindsay Park in 1977 | Image courtesy of Lindsay Park
Some 13 years before, it had been a similar story at Lindsay Park.
The studmaster and trainer, Colin Hayes, had welcomed Queen Elizabeth II to Angaston, sandwiched between her commitments to a Silver Jubilee tour of the Commonwealth. It was March 1977 and, as at Cambridge Stud, Her Majesty was fascinated by the property and its success.
A short time before, a young Englishman called William Hastings Bass had spent a few months working at Lindsay Park and, in later life, he became Lord Huntingdon. He also became a famed trainer for Her Majesty not long after her visit to Lindsay Park, something he stopped after 22 years, in 1998.
“I was at Lindsay Park in 1975, and one of the prime people who was there that impressed Her Majesty enormously, apart from C S Hayes, was Peter Jones,” said Lord Huntingdon, speaking to TDN AusNZ.
“I was at Lindsay Park in 1975, and one of the prime people who was there that impressed Her Majesty enormously, apart from C S Hayes, was Peter Jones.” - Lord Huntingdon
“Peter showed the stallion Without Fear during her visit, and he demonstrated his young-horse education and techniques with breaking in, and I know that influenced The Queen and Prince Philip enormously.”
Without Fear (Fr) was a magnificent sire in Australia, a ‘flawlessly conformed individual, exhibiting much of the balance and symmetry of his important genetic relation, Mill Reef’. The Lindsay Park sire set a seasonal record for 2-year-old winners in his time (30), a figure that was only broken by Snitzel in 2016.
He was the stallion The Queen had come to see, and Peter Jones put the horse in lunge gear and a round yard, and the pair demonstrated working horsemanship to the visiting Royals.
Peter Jones gives a demonstration with the stallion Without Fear (Fr) before the Royals at Lindsay Park in 1977 | Image courtesy of the University of Melbourne
“As a follow up to that, Her Majesty later on became very impressed and closely involved with the American, Monty Roberts, and it could well have started with Peter Jones,” Huntingdon said.
“I remember talking to The Queen about it, and I saw the film that was made at the time with him down in the roundyard, and his techniques were very similar to Monty Roberts’.
“When I was training for Her Majesty, I sent my main breaker to Roberts for a couple of months to his ranch in California, and it was all very similar to what Peter Jones had done during that visit in 1977.”
Australia fair?
Huntingdon has a long association with Australia. He first arrived in 'the colonies’ in 1967 and, before he landed at Lindsay Park, he worked for TJ Smith and Bart Cummings.
As an English horse trainer, he held a licence from 1976, and the following year he assumed many of The Queen’s horses in training.
His yard was the pretty West Ilsley Stables near Newbury, and among his best horses were Indian Queen (Ire) (Electric {GB}), a dual Group 1 winner, and Drum Taps (USA) (Dixieland Band {USA}).
Lord Huntingdon with his partner Chris Hannaford | Image courtesy of Emma Berry
Between them, these two stars gave him consecutive victories in the G1 Ascot Gold Cup in 1991, 1992 and 1993.
For The Queen, he trained Colour Sergeant (GB) (Green Desert {USA}) to win the 1992 Royal Hunt Cup at Royal Ascot, and also Phantom Gold (GB) (Machiavellian {USA}) to win the Ribblesdale some years later.
Huntingdon also has the rare distinction of being the first trainer ever to represent the Royal silks in Australia.
In the Melbourne Cup of 1997, he sent out Arabian Story (GB) with Frankie Dettori aboard and the pair was sixth to Might And Power (NZ) (Zabeel {NZ}). It was the first time The Queen’s colours had ever been carried in Australia.
Arabian Story (GB), owned by The Queen, parades before the Melbourne Cup at Flemington | Image courtesy of Sportpix
“There really wasn’t much pressure to having Her Majesty’s horses,” Huntingdon said. “The only time there was pressure was when her horses would run badly, and then her racing manager, who at that time was Lord Carnarvon, would ask me if I’d spoken to her lately and that maybe I should.
“And I often did speak to her. It was very easy because you’d know what day to catch her and what time, and it was always an easy call because she was genuinely interested in all her horses. She had bred most of them and she knew them extremely well.”
As Queen’s Choice would be a gift from Cambridge Stud in 1990, in 1977 the heads at Lindsay Park also presented Her Majesty with a filly.
Peter Jones and Without Fear (Fr) (sire of Australia Fair) with Her Majesty in the background | Image courtesy of the University of Melbourne
The youngster was called Australia Fair, a daughter of Without Fear, and she had an interesting life after she was foaled to Northern Hemisphere time in February 1977.
“They dreamed up this scheme between them, Colin Hayes and Bob Hawke, where they covered a few mares to Without Fear on Northern Hemisphere time,” Huntingdon said. “This filly was the one chosen eventually to come to Her Majesty, and let’s say she had a little bit of a temperament problem.”
“They dreamed up this scheme between them, Colin Hayes and Bob Hawke, where they covered a few mares to Without Fear on Northern Hemisphere time. This filly (Australia Fair) was the one chosen eventually to come to Her Majesty, and let’s say she had a little bit of a temperament problem.” - Lord Huntingdon
Huntingdon’s manners are exceptional as he recounts the tale of Australia Fair. Down in Lindsay Park, the filly would probably have been called much worse.
“She ended up jumping into the hedge one day on the gallops at Newmarket, and she raced once but she had this slightly questionable temperament,” he said. “She didn’t have the ability to overcome it, shall we say?
“Her Majesty kept her as a broodmare and the best horse she ever bred was a Town And Country horse called Double Blue, one they suddenly decided to get rid of and sold. And of course it was almost the first good horse that a gentleman called Mark Johnston ever had.”
Huntingdon thinks The Queen knows all about Double Blue (GB) (Town And Country {GB}) and his irascible dam Australia Fair.
“She would have enjoyed the vagaries of horse racing, in that respect,” he said, “that you can hang on and hang on and hang on, and then when you decide to get rid of something, that proves to be the best horse the mare ever bred.”
A Royal ride
Like every owner, Queen Elizabeth has had to ride the swings with the roundabouts when it comes to racing.
She’s won every Classic on the English turf bar the Derby, but she hasn’t done it in an overwhelming manner. It’s been gradual, a slow drip of brilliant winners spread out over decades.
One of her saltiest experiences, and there have been many, was in the English summer of 2011 when Carlton House (USA), a son of Street Cry (Ire), was third to Pour Moi (Ire) in the G1 Epsom Derby.
In the Royal silks, Carlton House had a grand career, winning the G2 Dante S. and G3 Gerard S. before running second to So You Think (NZ) in the G1 Prince Of Wales's at Royal Ascot.
He didn’t make it right to the top of his class, which included names like Excelebration (Ire) and Treasure Beach (GB), but he was given a second coming when The Queen sent him to the care of Gai Waterhouse at Tulloch Lodge in 2013.
Carlton House (USA) racing at Warwick Farm in 2013 | Image courtesy of Sportpix
When he debuted in the G2 Ajax S. in March that year at Rosehill, it was one of the first times since Arabian Story in 1997 that the Royal colours had been seen in Australia.
“I’d seen the silks when I was riding in the UK but I’d never actually worn them,” said Hugh Bowman, who was tasked to ride Carlton House on his Australian debut. “I didn’t ride for Her Majesty in England, but when Gai acquired the horse she asked me would I like to ride him. Because I had experience in the UK, she thought it would be fitting.”
“I didn’t ride for Her Majesty in England, but when Gai (Waterhouse) acquired the horse (Carlton House) she asked me would I like to ride him. Because I had experience in the UK, she thought it would be fitting.” - Hugh Bowman
For Bowman, who has had so many highs in the sport, donning the Royal silks was a bucket-list item.
“I remember being extremely proud to wear them,” he said. “Carlton House was a really beautiful horse and an outstanding mover, and I don’t think he quite achieved the heights that we expected but he was a really decent animal.”
Waterhouse said later on that Carlton House came to her with arthritic joints, and she was able to nurse him to an Australian-best effort of second to Silent Achiever (NZ) (O’Reilly {NZ}) in the G1 Ranvet S., and third to Dundeel (NZ) in the G1 Queen Elizabeth S.
“He was a horse that came here with quite a big profile,” Bowman said. “He was trained by Michael Stoute and he’d been third in the English Derby, and these sorts of horses come over here regularly now, but back then it wasn’t common for such a high-achieving horse to come to Australia. It was a really big thing.”
Hugh Bowman, one of the few jockeys to ride in The Queen's silks in Australia | Image courtesy of Ashlea Brennan
Bowman hasn’t ridden in the Royal silks since. In Australia, the opportunities to do so are slim, but his recollection of the occasion is one that’s important to him, as it would be for most professional riders.
In a way, it’s a statement of the affection that the racing industry holds for Queen Elizabeth, and that even a single moment in her company or a half-hour in her colours, or indeed a whole morning with her on an important breeding farm, will stay in the mind’s archives forever, dug up in important weeks like this.
