The late Queen Elizabeth II, who died peacefully at Balmoral on September 8, 2022, aged 96, enjoyed a lifelong love affair with horses and horse racing. At the age of 25, she inherited the Royal Stud at Sandringham, near King’s Lynn, Norfolk and the Royal racing silks – purple, gold braid, scarlet sleeves and a back cap – from her father, King George VI. The late Queen first attended Royal Ascot in 1946, when still Princess Elizabeth, but thereafter attended every year until 2020, when the meeting was held behind closed doors due to the Covid-19 pandemic. All told, Her Majesty enjoyed 24 Royal Ascot winners, famously becoming the first reigning monarch to win the Gold Cup, with Estimate in 2013.
Following the death of Queen Elizabeth II, ownership of her horses was transferred to King Charles III and Queen Camilla. His Majesty sold 14 of them, for a little over £1 million, at the Tattersalls Autumn Horses in Training Sale in Newmarket in October, 2022. One of those sold was the four-year-old Sea The Stars colt Just Fine, trained by Sir Michael Stoute, who, on October 4, 2022, made history by becoming the first winner in the Royal colours since the death of the Queen.
In any event, King Charles’ first Royal Ascot winner was Desert Hero, a three-year-old Sea The Stars colt, bred by the Queen and trained, in Newmarket, by William Haggas. On June 22, 2023, Desert Hero defied odds of 18/1, and an interrupted passage, to win the King George V Stakes, over a mile and a half, by a head. The winning trainer said of the Royal couple, ‘They’re absolutely thrilled. They’ve been looking forward to Ascot for a long time. It’s very important for horse racing, important the King and Queen enjoy it.’