I had the pleasure of meeting Peter for a #BettingPeople interview. In Princess Anne racing has had a long-time supporter, her children Zara Tindall and Peter Phillips have both been heavily involved too.
The further good news is that it has been reported that Queen Consort Camilla will take over the Queen’s racing interests, which of is terrific stuff, so it’s long odds-on that the Royal bloodstock legacy will be perpetuated. It would be sad, and also fairly obvious if he’s doing so disinterested and out of duty, showing his face and legging it after four races, that’s unlikely too. I’ve no doubt that King Charles is not about to cancel Royal Ascot and will still be attending on a daily basis during the week. I’ve since been proven wrong, but I wish she had. To be honest, I’d have sworn blind she punched the air with her fist and would have bet good money to back it up. As the horses battled to the line I turned to look up to the Royal Box, the window open. I was in the Royal Enclosure working for Turf TV in 2013 when Estimate won the Gold Cup under Ryan Moore. There have been fantastic clips posted on line and broadcast on TV of a lifetime of loving the races, some from before I was born and one that I witnessed. The fact that she genuinely loved racing and was very happy to be at the races whenever she attended was palpable. Now that she has gone, she’ll leave a huge chasm in our sport. The Queen, arguably the most famous lady on the planet, couldn’t have been a higher profile champion of horseracing. Of course, Royal Ascot and Epsom for the Derby were the two meetings where you could see her annually, but Newbury wasn’t unheard of and I’m sure there were plenty of others where she rubbed shoulders with other owners in the parade ring. I wasn’t one of those people that had met the Queen but as with many that will read this blog, she was often about, at the races. It was an English bookmaker on a jolly that told me she’d passed away, he had tears in his eyes. There had been rumours all day that she was gravely ill, but it was only a couple of days before that she’d been photographed with Liz Truss, it came as a shock. I was racing at Laytown in Ireland when the news reached us that the Queen had died.
AUTHOR: Star Sports Content SIMON NOTT: God Save The King
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