ROYAL Patronage, also the name of one of the runners in today’s Group 1 Derby at Epsom, has been a blessing for racing and breeding in Britain.

This weekend, as Queen Elizabeth becomes the first British monarch to celebrate a platinum jubilee, one of its highlights will be her presence at Epsom.

It is worth summing up some of her remarkable achievements as an owner and breeder.

Sixty-five years ago this week, she enjoyed her first British classic win with Carozza, and this marked a Derby-Oaks double for a young, though well-established, rider by the name of Lester Piggott. That Oaks victory came four years after Aureole ran second in the Derby to Pinza, just days after the young monarch’s coronation at Westminster Abbey at the age of 27.

Queen Elizabeth inherited the breeding and racing stock of her father, King George VI, after his death on February 6th, 1952, among which was the then unraced Aureole. Just three years earlier Princess Elizabeth had her first winner as an owner when Monaveen was successful over jumps at Fontwell. The gelding was trained by Peter Cazalet and ridden by Tony Grantham.

Wedding gift

That was three days after her first racehorse, a wedding present from the Aga Khan, was runner-up on her debut at Ascot. Astrakhan made her debut in the Sandwich Stakes and found the Noel Murless-trained, Gordon Richards-ridden Golden Pond too good. The following year, at Hurst Park, Astrakhan won the Merry Maidens Stakes. Queen Elizabeth’s tally of winners on the flat in Britain is now over 1,000.

Her winners carry the distinctive purple, gold braid and scarlet colours that she inherited from her father, and they were also used by her great-grandfather, King Edward VII. Queen Elizabeth was champion owner twice, thanks in the main to Aureole in 1954 and Carozza three years later. She bred each of her British classic winners; Oaks heroine Carozza, the 1958 2000 Guineas winner Pall Mall, the 1974 1000 Guineas winner Highclere, and the 1977 Oaks and St Leger winner Dunfermline. The latter filly gained her biggest wins during Queen Elizabeth’s silver jubilee year. Sadly, the one classic she has failed to win in England is the Derby.

With the royal meeting at Ascot in the offing, it is worth remembering that her 24 victories at the meeting are headed by the Aga Khan-bred Estimate, who generated memorable celebrations from Queen Elizabeth, and her bloodstock and racing advisor John Warren, when she won a pulsating Gold Cup in 2013. This triumph was one of 11 Group 1 wins that the monarch has enjoyed as an owner in Britain.

As she has been a successful owner since 1949, it is interesting that Queen Elizabeth’s most successful year numerically was 2021, when her runners visited the winners’ enclosure 36 times on the flat and three times under National Hunt rules. All of her homebreds are foaled at the Royal Stud in Sandringham, which is managed by Irishman David Somers.

Philosophy

Once asked during a BBC documentary about her love of horses, Queen Elizabeth said: “My philosophy about racing is simple. I enjoy breeding a horse that is faster than other people’s. To me, that is a gamble from a long way back. I enjoy racing, but I suppose, basically, I love horses, and the thoroughbred epitomises a really good horse to me.”

John Warren paid his own tribute, and said: “The Queen’s contribution to racing and breeding derives from a lifelong commitment. Her love of horses, and their welfare, comes with a deep understanding of what is required to breed, rear, train and ride a thoroughbred.”

A successful owner and breeder herself, Queen Elizabeth’s daughter-in-law, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, added: “The Queen is the biggest racing expert of all time. There is nothing she doesn’t know about racing and you wouldn’t want to think you knew better, because she does have all the answers. I think racing is her passion in life. She loves it and you can tell how much she loves it. She could tell you about every horse she’s bred and owned from the very beginning, she doesn’t forget anything. She’s encyclopaedic about her knowledge.”