Currently scheduled as the opening race on the second day of Royal Ascot, the Queen Mary Stakes is, nowadays, a Group 2 contest, worth £150,000, run over the minimum distance of five furlongs and open to two-year-old fillies only. As such, it is the first major race of its kind in the British eacing calendar.
Inaugurated in 1921, the race was named in honour of Victoria Mary of Teck, who was queen consort to King George V between 1910 and his death in 1936 Initially awarded Group 3 status when the European Pattern was introduced in 1971, the Queen Mary Stakes was promoted to Group 2 status in 2004.
Since then, pioneering American trainer Wesley A. Ward has been the one to keep an eye on, having saddled four winners – Jealous Again (2009), Acapulco (2015), Lady Aurelia (2016) and Campanelle (2020) – in the past two decades. Jockey Lanfranco ‘Frankie’ Dettori, who is also plying his trade Stateside nowadays, has ridden three winners in that period, while James Doyle, Ryan Moore and John R. Velasquez have ridden two apiece.
Nevertheless, six-time champion trainer Fred Darling remains the most successful in the history of the Queen Mary Stakes with seven winners between 1924 and 1946, while Sir Gordon Richards, his stable jockey from 1932 onwards, rode five of them and remains the most successful jockey. More recently, three of the last 10 renewals have been won by the outright favourite, but the race has also thrown up winners at 25/1, 22/1 and 18/1 in the past decade.