'I was in awe' - Carson, Stoute and more recall their memories of the Queen

Following the death of the Queen, we hear from six individuals with stories to tell of time in her company

A perfectly planned Ascot win

Richard Hughes has both ridden and trained winners for the Queen, their most important success together coming when Free Agent – trained by Hughes's father-in-law Richard Hannon snr – became a Royal Ascot winner in the 2008 Chesham Stakes.

After I started training the Queen came to visit us at the yard to see the horse she had with us. I asked Ryan Moore to do me a favour and ride him that morning. When we were on the gallops the Queen stayed in her Jeep and watched from there as Ryan rode by. She turned to me and said: "Goodness, you have very good staff." Even with his helmet on she recognised Ryan straight away.

She was always just so easy to be around. Although you were immensely proud to be in her company, you didn't feel at all on edge. I don't know why that was because you really should have felt anxious. Instead, you were totally comfortable and at ease. You could also talk to her about anything because her knowledge on all subjects was so amazingly good.

I was very fortunate to ride a winner for her at Royal Ascot. I remember she came down to Richard Hannon's yard before Free Agent had made his debut. When she was there and we were all in the sitting room we made a plan to run him in a Leicester maiden and then the Chesham.

It proved to her first winner at the redeveloped Ascot. She was over the moon. She had been part of the plan when it was devised and loved that it came off.

In Tuesday's Racing Post

Estimate's amusing postscript

Sir Michael Stoute enjoyed a long association with the Queen and supplied her with the victory that arguably brought her more pleasure than any other. That certainly looked the case to anyone who saw the television pictures of her in Ascot's royal box, willing home Estimate in the 2013 Gold Cup.

Her Majesty made no secret of the fact the Gold Cup was the race at Royal Ascot she coveted most. She was very thrilled to win it with Estimate – very thrilled indeed.

The Queen with Estimate after her Gold Cup triumph – she was pleased and amused with jockey Ryan Moore too!Credit: Edward Whitaker

There was a very amusing postscript. After racing we went to see her. She said to Ryan [Moore]: "I see you got two days for careless riding." She then looked at him with a smirk on her face and simply said: "Accidental?"

Ryan looked back at her and replied: "No, Ma'am."

When she heard him say that she beamed!

An enjoyable lack of paintwork

Richard Hannon snr became an important part of the Queen's training ranks, providing his most famous owner with not only plenty of racecourse success but some enjoyable stable mornings.

She was such a lovely lady, but then everyone knows that. She was just a normal person – or she acted like a normal person, let's put it that way. We had some lovely times together and it was a huge honour to train for her.

Whatever people might think, it certainly wasn't terrifying when she came to visit us. She just came around with us in the Jeep like any other owner would have done. She really was so easy to deal with and she knew her horses too – she definitely knew the ones she liked!

I particularly remember one of the days she came to see us. We were walking back through the yard and I asked her what she thought of her horses?

The Queen with Richard Hannon at Ascot – they shared some amusing moments at his yard tooCredit: Edward Whitaker

"They look great, Richard," she said. Then she added: "I must say, it's quite nice to come to a place that doesn't smell of paint."

No horse but will a CD do, Ma'am?

John Reid was not closely linked to the Queen as a jockey – but after he left the weighing room she showed considerable kindness to Reid and his daughter.

I rode for the Queen a couple of times but met her only a few times while I was riding.

After I retired as a jockey the pre-trainer Malcolm Bastard rang me one day and asked if I would ride out a couple of horses for him.

"I'm sorry, Malcolm, I don't ride young horses or breezers," I said, to which he replied that he was seeking a favour because the horses had a famous owner who was coming to see them. I told him I wouldn't do it unless he told me who, which is when he said it was the Queen. "Not a problem," I said.

I rode two of her horses, after which we had a nice chat. I said I would do the same thing for Malcolm the following year, by when my daughter, Jessica, was doing a bit of singing. She asked me if I would give one of her CDs to the Queen. I told her I would but only if it felt appropriate to do so.

Come the morning at Malcolm's, we spoke about her horses and then chatted away. She explained to me how Sheikh Mohammed had given her the dam of one of the horses and the Aga Khan had given her another.

I said to the Queen: "Just before you go, Ma'am, I can't give you a horse because I don't have any going spare, but here's a CD of my daughter singing!"

She took it and seemingly played it on the way back to Highclere, where she was staying and due to have dinner that night with Andrew Lloyd Webber.

John Reid: daughter's voice left its mark

After Lloyd Webber left the following morning, I'm told the Queen expressed her frustration that she had forgotten to give him the CD, which she thought he should have. Before she left Highclere she asked someone to call Lloyd Webber to say she had forgotten to give him a CD, so she was going to pop over there and drop it off. He then rang me and organised for Jessica to have an appointment with him. I couldn't believe how kind she had been to do all that.

Great buzz from a winner

Lord Huntingdon was one of the Queen's trainers for just over two decades, including from the famous stables at West Ilsley, which he took over from Dick Hern. Huntingdon, who initially trained as William Hastings-Bass, was responsible for the Queen’s first Grade 1 winner in North America when Unknown Quantity landed the 1989 Arlington Handicap. He also saddled the Queen's Colour Sergeant to win the 1992 Royal Hunt Cup and then delivered her success in the Ribblesdale Stakes with Phantom Gold three years later.

The Queen was a country woman at heart. She loved animals, both the domestic and farm variety. I think the best way to describe it is that she understood animals. Whenever she came to the yard she loved seeing the horses have a pick of grass and she really enjoyed chatting to the lads. It always felt so very natural.

A lot of the time one dealt with the Queen through her then racing adviser Henry Carnarvon. He and his wife often spent half of August in America and when he was away it was my job to ring her. Initially, one always had that sense of awe, knowing you were talking to the Queen, but after the first few moments that feeling quickly wore off because you realised she just wanted to talk about her horses.

There were times when Henry was in the country but would suggest to me that, as I hadn't spoken to her for a while, I should be the one to ring her. You knew that was invariably because one of the horses had run badly!

The Queen always preferred it if you were open and admitted you had made a mistake, rather than her having to say something hadn't been very clever. Nobody is perfect and she realised that as much as anyone else.

One thing that particularly struck me was how easily the Queen took lack of success, which is not true for quite a few owners. She always enjoyed and appreciated winning, but she was sympathetic when things did not go quite so well. She knew that her geese weren't all swans.

The day Colour Sergeant won the Hunt Cup was particularly memorable. He only just squeezed into the race but won it extremely well. With Phantom Gold, the decision was made that she would be better suited to Ascot than Epsom, so she went for the Ribblesdale as opposed to the Oaks, and that paid off.

Phantom Gold: going for the Ribblesdale paid offCredit: Mark Cranham (racingpost.com/photos)

Tea in the royal box at Ascot was always a wonderful occasion. The Queen certainly showed her enjoyment and excitement when she had a winner. It really did give her a great buzz.

The Queen was very receptive to running mares in foal and we had great success doing that with Starlet, who won in Germany and was then second in the Sun Chariot. The Queen also loved keeping old horses, one of them being Whitechapel, who went on racing for us until he was ten.

We ran a lot of her horses internationally. Unknown Quantity won in America but there were also trips to Australia, Denmark, Germany and a marvellous journey to Craon for a Listed race. We picked up Cash Asmussen in a plane at Chantilly and were later somewhat surprised when he cantered the reverse way around the entire course. It transpired that was only because he had been too damned lazy to walk the course! When I recounted the tale to the Queen she was highly amused.

Dunfermline Oaks win a fairytale

Willie Carson rode numerous winners in the royal silks after becoming stable jockey to Dick Hern, most famously steering Dunfermline to Classic glory at Epsom and Doncaster in the Silver Jubilee year of 1977.

I definitely felt pressure aboard Dunfermline. It was my first year as Dick Hern's stable jockey and everybody was against me because I had taken the great Joe Mercer's job. They all felt he had been hard done by, so it wasn't easy.

Dick had given her only the one prep run in the Pretty Polly, but he was convinced she was spot on. I wasn't quite so convinced because she saved a bit for herself on the gallops.

Winning the Oaks was an absolute fairytale. The Queen wasn't at Epsom that day but the Queen Mother made sure she was there. As a present for winning the Oaks, I was given a pair of cufflinks by the Queen. They have ER on them and I still wear them regularly.

Willie Carson aboard Dunfermline at EpsomCredit: Mark Cranham (racingpost.com/photos)

In the St Leger I gave Alleged and Lester Piggott a bit of a nudge in the last half-furlong. After they called a stewards' inquiry I nervously kept asking people: "They wouldn't take it off the Queen, would they?"

One of the few times Lester ever consoled me was when we came out of the stewards' room that day and he said: "You'll be all right, you'll keep it."

I always found the Queen to be a normal person. She always tried to put you at ease but I never felt at ease when I was with her. In fact, I was always frightened to death! The words that came out of my mouth were never the ones I intended, but that's because I was in awe of her.

She was the Queen and I was a snotty-nosed working class kid from Stirling. That was how I saw myself, but it was not how the Queen saw me. She always liked to know the gossip as well!

I always thought of her more as a breeder than an owner, and I do think she enjoyed breeding racehorses more than racing them. Her pleasure came from spending time with her horses and hearing about all the things they did, all their little foibles, their likes and dislikes.

If you told her one of her horses liked to do a certain thing, she would immediately tell you if the grandmother or great-grandmother had been the same. You were definitely wise to do your homework before you spoke to her, but she could still easily catch you out – and you would have been a fool to try to bluff in front of her.

I remember that after she bought West Ilsley, the Queen came out in Dick's Land Rover with Lord Carnarvon and myself. Dick and Lord Carnarvon went off to look at where they wanted to lay down an all-weather gallop. I was left standing with the Queen. I don't know why but I said to her: "Ma'am, I think it's time you reached for your chequebook."

I don't think it went down very well because she didn't laugh. They didn't get their all-weather gallop either!

In Tuesday's Racing Post