Horse racing is an active passion for the Queen and she has enjoyed great success throughout the years, winning every Classic except the Derby at Epsom.
She has been with the sport her whole life and regularly attends Royal Ascot every June where she has won with the likes of Phantom Gold in 1995 and won the famous Gold Cup with estimated in 2013.
The Queen’s distinctive purple and red hues were honored at this year’s Derby meeting, with 40 past and present charioteers gathering to form a spectacular honor guard for the royal banquet in honor of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.
Your Majesty’s finest horses over the years…
Aureole
As one of the Queen’s first genuine stars, Aureole almost brought the Queen victory in the 1953 Derby, just a year after her coronation.
A two-year-old, Aureole turns three, winning the Lingfield Derby Challenge for the first time before running a stellar run for second place at Epsom, only to be turned down by Gordon Richards on Pinza favourite.
He shone like a four-year-old, winning easily the Crowning Cup at Epsom before repeating a trick in the Hardwicke Stakes for coach Cecil Boyd-Rochfort, scoring narrowly from colt Janitor’s hand. France.
Despite failing to beat his rider Eph Smith on the start line against King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, horse and horse racing recovered and enjoyed a remarkable run, beating the 2000 Guineas winner as Darius in his last start was previously retired to stud.
The Queen greets Aureole after winning the Stocks of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth
Carrozza
The Queen’s first Classic winner in Carrozza is another who has thrived in motorsport, making a steady impression in second place before improving recognition for coach Noel Murless at three years old.
After winning the 1000 Guineas test, she finished fourth despite being unpopular for that Classic, but revised the following month at Epsom with an inspired Lester Piggott in the saddle.
Despite being rated the lower of the two contenders for The Queen, Piggott and Carrozza chased in a tight finish to take down The Oaks, making the Queen the top owner in the UK that year.
The Queen leads in Carrozza, with Lester Piggott in the saddle, after victory at the Battle of Oaks in 1957
Doutelle
While not quite the top tier accolades like Carrozza, Doutelle became the first major winner to be bred by the Queen in her own right.
An extremely consistent horse, he went on to win the Derby and the Ormonde Stakes, as well as being awarded the Gold Cup and the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes.
When asked by Horse And Hound in 2020 for her favorite year of racehorses, the Queen named Doutelle, along with Aureole, Highclere, Phantom Gold and Estim.
Doutelle retired to The Queen’s Sandringham Stud, where his dark horse career was tragically cut off at the age of eight.
The Queen points to her pony Doutelle, who just won 2,000 Guineas Challenge Shares at Kempton Park
Pall Mall
The first indoor Classic winner came in 1958, when Pall Mall caused a minor shock by winning the 2000 Guineas for Cecil Boyd-Rochfort and jockey Doug Smith.
At the age of two, he won New Stakes – now Norfolk Stakes – at Royal Ascot but did not return to the winner’s ring again until succeeding in the Classic Trials at Thirsk the following season. follow.
That prompted him to run at the Newmarket Classic, where he qualified for 20/1, before finishing the first Lockinge Stakes run, a feat he will repeat next year. 1959.
Pall Mall retired at the end of its four-year-old season, after a top Time Form rating of 132.
Pall Mall, driven by Doug Smith, won 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket in 1958
Highclere
Highclere proved to be a resounding success on the track but is said to have a bigger legacy in the barn after retiring from racing.
She was the first of two Classic doubles winners for The Queen in the 1970s, winning 1000 Guineas for championship coach Dick Hern with a short head under Joe Mercer from favorite Polygamy.
A tilt in Oaks’ favor was expected, although she instead headed for the French equivalent, the Prix de Diane, and a well-deserved win with the Queen attending Chantilly.
As a model, she created a number of stars including Princess of Wales Fashionable Height winner who later produced 2000 Guineas and Derby winner Nashwan.
Highclere (far) wins in a photo that finishes 1000 guineas at Newmarket in 1974
Dunfermline
The second classic double winner for Queen of the decade, Dunfermline was a very popular winner of both Oaks and St Leger in the Queen’s Silver Year.
Though she couldn’t win on two points, Dunfermline was the clear winner of Pretty Polly Stakes when it came to her seasonal reappearance and proved to be something special when she took down the Epsom Classic by 3/4 length.
The Irish Alleged-trained dark horse was a red favorite to take down St Leger, but it was Dunfermline who outperformed him in a protracted showdown at Doncaster.
The Queen’s horse Dunfermline, ridden by Willie Carson, just before Freeze the Secret, ridden by Gianfranco Dettori, in an interesting finish before Oaks in Epsom
The height of fashion
Like the aforementioned Highclere, Height Of Fashion’s legacy in racing can be measured by her post-retirement career.
Together she ran a stellar two-year undefeated campaign, including wins in the Acomb Stakes, May Hill Stakes and Fillies’ Mile, and then winning the Princess of Wales’s Stakes the following year at Newmarket .
Once sold to Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum, she proved to be an exceptional man, spawning the likes of Nashwan as well as the heroine of Champion Stakes Ghanaati.
Fashionable height with Willie Carson on the saddle
Ghost gold
One of the highlights of Frankie Dettori’s career was at Royal Ascot in 1995, when he guided the Queen’s Phantom Gold to victory at the Ribblesdale Stakes for coach Lord Huntingdon.
She beat the Oaks a second time Dance A Dream on that occasion and later that year beat St Simon Stakes at Newbury.
Dettori’s second and final ride on Phantom Gold was also a winner, in the Geoffrey Freer Stakes in Newbury before she retired to the ranch.
Frankie Dettori rides Phantom Gold to win the Geoffrey Freer Staking at Newbury
Carlton’s House
Aureole finished second in the Derby but the House of Carlton is thought to be closer to providing the Queen with victory in the world’s biggest flat race.
Hopes are high for the Royal Runner-up – coached by Sir Michael Stoute – following his success in the Dante Stakes at York in 2011 under Ryan Moore, considered the top test for the Epsom Classic.
In one of the most iconic Derby in recent years, Carlton House was loved and challenged to the straight but fell a beat behind and was only able to finish third, beaten by Pour Moi and Mickael Barzalona a saddle to deliver one of the race’s most memorable shots.
He then won the Brigadier Gerard Stakes before being transferred to Gai Waterhouse in Australia, narrowly being defeated in the Group One Ranvet Stakes.
Carlton House (right) was defeated by Pour Moi in the 2011 Derby
Estimate
Sir Michael Stoute and Ryan Moore will team up again two years after the Carlton House’s near miss, this time winning the Ascot Gold Cup at the Royal Meeting for the Queen, a race she was unable to win. before 2013.
Estimates hint at his staying power when he landed Queen’s Vase at Royal Ascot in 2012, before booking at Glorious Goodwood and at the Doncaster Cup.
And that was confirmed the following season, when proving the narrow winner of the Ascot Gold Cup in front of the delighted king, who then stepped into the victor’s enclosure to salute the horse and receive trophy.
Jockey Ryan Moore salutes the Queen after winning the 2013 Gold Cup in Estimation
Dartmouth
Having had a relatively uneventful start to his racing career, winning three handicaps at the age of three, Darmouth soon developed into a star in 2016, lifting the Ormonde Stakes before succeeding at Royal Ascot in Hardwicke Stakes under Olivier Peslier.
Before starting his new career at stud, Dartmouth added the 2017 Yorkshire Cup, with Ryan Moore in the saddle.
The Queen’s 24th and most recent Royal Ascot winner – 67 years after her first success at the meeting – arrives in 2020 as Tactical, coached by Andrew Balding and ridden by James Doyle, won the Windsor Castle Stock.
Dartmouth (right), driven by Olivier Peslier, won the Hardwicke Stakes at Royal Ascot in 2016
