Queen Elizabeth II was known for her love of horses, owning hundreds of thoroughbreds and amassing more than 1,800 racing victories.
Sports presenter Clare Balding, 52, from Chiswick, London, whose grandfather, father and brother trained the Queen’s horses, said the late monarch loved the “mischief” of horse racing.
Speaking on Gyles Brandreth’s Rosebud podcast, Clare said: “There’s a jockey called Richard Hughes, who was the most beautiful jockey, but he was always there, very high, at an angle and it made her laugh.”
“If you stood up and watched a race with her, which I’ve done, she’d say something like, ‘Oh, look at Hughesy in the back with his butt in the air, looking like he’s got a lot of horse.’
Clare, who was a leading amateur jockey in the late 1980s, learned to ride a “fat little Shetland pony”, which was a gift from the late monarch.
Sports presenter Clare Balding, 52 (pictured), whose grandfather, father and brother trained the Queen’s horses, said the late monarch, who died in 2022 at the age of 96, loved the “mischief ” of horse racing.
Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Anne celebrating a victory at the Derby Day horse races, 1988
She said: ‘She liked that world and had a ton of knowledge about horses. And she felt very relaxed and at home, in the stables, away from the pomp of her royal duties.
‘She loved the way the riders or the stable boys and girls were with her. I think she loved the mischief of racing.
Clare added that the late Queen also had a great relationship with jockeys and loved Frankie Detorri and Ryan Moore.
He claimed that the royal would make Ryan laugh, even though he never “smiled at anyone.” Clare said: “Because I think she would say, ‘Don’t be so grumpy.’
The presenter revealed the King could now be following in his mother’s footsteps after discovering his love of horse racing late in his life.
The King was thrilled to watch his horse Desert Hero win the King George V race from the royal box last year.
Clare said: ‘He hasn’t traditionally been a runner. He loves horses and he is a very good polo player. When he had a winner last year, I think he was overwhelmed by how much he felt it for the first time. He really understood it.’
After her coronation in 1953, the Queen traveled to Berkshire racecourses at least once a year to attend the event, only missing it in 2020 due to Covid closures.
The late Queen Elizabeth smiling as she reviews mounted troops at the Royal Windsor Horse Show
Queen Elizabeth makes Italian jockey Frankie Dettori (right) laugh during the presentation after winning the Gold Cup at Royal Ascot in 2019.
Her Majesty’s love of horses began when she was just four years old, after her grandfather, King George V, gave her a small Shetland pony.
At the age of six she fell in love with horse riding, became an accomplished equestrian in her teens and has continued to ride for pleasure throughout her life.
From her first appearance at the annual Trooping the Color until 1986, the monarch attended the ceremony on horseback.
She first attended the Royal Windsor Horse Show as a horse-mad teenager in 1943. Along with Princess Margaret, the 17-year-old showed off her equestrian prowess by winning the Pony & Dogcart class.
The Queen owned several thoroughbreds for racing after she initially inherited King George’s breeding and racing stock following his death in February 1952.
A lady-in-waiting took the then-Princess Elizabeth and her younger sister, Princess Margaret, on a visit to London Zoo’s Pets Corner in 1937.
In 1974, the monarch’s interest in horses was the subject of a documentary title, The Queen’s Race Horses: a Private View, which she narrated (pictured at the 1978 races).
Her Majesty’s golden age as a racehorse owner was in 1953, the year of her coronation, when her beloved horse Aureole came second to Pinza, the closest the Queen came to winning the Derby.
Her Majesty’s golden age as a racehorse owner was in 1953, the year of her coronation, when her beloved horse Aureole came second to Pinza, the closest the Queen came to winning the Derby.
She became a patron of many horse-focused organisations, including the British Horse Society, the Fell Pony Society and the Highland Pony Society.
Elizabeth, known around the world as a racehorse owner and truly knowledgeable breeder, celebrated her love of animals by dedicating life-size statues to two of her horses in Windsor.
In 1974, the monarch’s interest in horses was the subject of a documentary title, The Queen’s Race Horses: a Private View, which she narrated.
The Queen’s love of horse racing led to her being inducted into the QIPCO British Champions Series Hall of Fame in the Special Contributor category.
He was awarded the honor due to his unwavering and lifelong dedication to the sport over the past eight decades.
The Queen, who died on September 8 aged 96, sparked a great love affair with horse riding in the UK, thanks to her own talents as a rider and breeder (The Queen riding her Burmese horse in Trooping the Color in 1969 ).
John Warren, who oversaw all of the monarch’s horse racing and breeding interests, said at the time that the recognition would be a source of “a lot of inner pride” for the Queen.
The late monarch became the first person to be inducted into the QIPCO British Champion Series Hall of Fame within the Special Contributor category after being chosen by an independent panel of industry experts for her outstanding contribution.
In 2022, the Queen attended the Windsor Horse Show and was also the guest of honor at the A Gallop Through History horse show, the first major event of the Jubilee festivities.
According to her racing advisor, John Warren, the late monarch spoke of “her love for her horses to the end.”
Warren said he spent the weekend before the Queen’s death in Scotland, talking about his horses, as he had done so many times before.
“We sat there for hours over the weekend strategizing and making plans for the future,” he said.