Heartfelt passion for racing evident and enduring throughout her reign

Of all the monarchs who have ever been involved in horseracing, Queen Elizabeth II was the most knowledgeable and the most enthusiastic.

Her passion for the sport was evident to all and, with a keen appreciation of the Stud Book and of a horse's conformation, she was a true professional.

She was champion owner twice and won all the British Classics except the Derby, in which she had runner-up Aureole; he won the race named after her parents, the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes.

She also had dual Classic-winning fillies Highclere and Dunfermline, with the latter triumphing in the Oaks and St Leger in her Silver Jubilee year, and her other outstanding winners included Carrozza (Oaks), Pall Mall (2,000 Guineas) and Estimate (Ascot Gold Cup).

Duty was always paramount, but the first six days marked in her diary each year were Derby day and the five days of Royal Ascot. She derived immense pleasure from spending time with thoroughbreds, not only on the racecourse but also on the gallops and with her mares and foals at stud.

She had a natural eye for a horse and recognised every one of them. She relished visiting studs such as those of Alec Head in Normandy and Will Farish in Kentucky, and on her state visit to Ireland in 2011 a tour of local studs, including Coolmore, was a highlight.

At a very young age she was enthralled by her grandfather King George V telling how his filly Scuttle had won the 1928 1,000 Guineas. Her father was champion owner in 1942 thanks to Big Game and Triple Crown heroine Sun Chariot.

At 16 she visited Fred Darling's Beckhampton stables with her parents to watch those champions work, and she felt so honoured to run her hand over Big Game that she did not wash for several hours. Princess Elizabeth got to know the mares and foals at the royal stud at Hampton Court, and in one of her early visits to the racecourse she saw her father’s Hypericum win the 1,000 Guineas in 1946.

When she married in 1947 her wedding present from the Aga Khan was a filly foal, who was named Astrakhan and went into training with Willie Smyth. Lord Mildmay encouraged the princess and her mother to buy a jumper, and they went half-shares in Monaveen, trained by Peter Cazalet.

Astrakhan and Monaveen both made their debuts in the princess's colours in October 1949, with Monaveen scoring over fences at Fontwell to become her first winner. Monaveen won the Queen Elizabeth Chase at Hurst Park that December and came fifth to Freebooter in the 1950 Grand National, but later broke a leg.

King George VI died in February 1952, and the new queen announced that she would breed and race on the same lines. This meant having her home-breds in training with Cecil Boyd-Rochfort at Newmarket, and those horses bred by the National Stud and leased to her for their racing careers (and sometimes known as the 'hirelings') in training with Noel Murless, who moved to Newmarket at the end of 1952.

Her first top-class horse was Aureole, who, like many of Hyperion's offspring, had a mind of his own. In 1953 he was fifth in the 2,000 Guineas and won the Lingfield Derby Trial by five lengths. On the morning of the coronation one of the Queen's ladies-in-waiting, thinking of the imminent ceremony, asked if all was well, and she replied that Boyd-Rochfort had just rung to report that Aureole had gone well in his last work for the Derby.

At Epsom four days later he came second, beaten four lengths by a great champion in Pinza, who was ridden by the newly knighted Sir Gordon Richards. In the King George at Ascot he was again second to Pinza, this time by three lengths. He refused to settle when third in the St Leger, then won the Cumberland Lodge Stakes.

As a four-year-old Aureole was ridden by Eph Smith because royal stud manager Charles Moore decided the highly strung colt went better for him than for stable jockey Harry Carr, and he proved himself the champion older horse in Europe. He won the Coronation Cup by five lengths and the Hardwicke by a short head, and in the King George he went one better than 12 months before, beating French raider Vamos by three-quarters of a length.

Aureole was the best colt owned by the Queen and he was also a champion at stud, heading the sires' list twice while based at the Royal Studs. His successful offspring in the royal colours included Apprentice and Hopeful Venture.

Aureole was the main reason the Queen became champion owner in 1954, although Landau and Corporal also contributed to her prize-money haul. Landau, a son of Sun Chariot, won the Rous Memorial Stakes at Royal Ascot and the Sussex Stakes, and was Sir Gordon Richards' last ride in public when third in the Eclipse. Corporal became the only horse ever to beat his stablemate, subsequent Triple Crown winner Meld, when taking the Newmarket Foal Stakes.

The royal highlights of 1956 were High Veldt’s second to the mighty Ribot in the King George and Atlas's six-length victory in the Doncaster Cup.

For strength in depth the Queen enjoyed her best season in 1957, as she was champion owner for the second time. About a dozen of her 30 victories came in races we would now regard as being of Pattern standard.

The Queen leads in her first Classic winner, Carrozza, who won the Oaks at Epsom with Lester Piggott in the saddleCredit: Hulton Archive

Mulberry Harbour won the Cheshire Oaks and carried her first colours in the Oaks, but it was her second-string Carrozza who prevailed, with Lester Piggott riding one of his strongest finishes to repel Silken Glider by a short head. Trained by Murless, Carrozza was Piggott's only Classic winner for the Queen.

Yet her best filly that year turned out to be Almeria, who won the Ribblesdale Stakes, Yorkshire Oaks (by six lengths) and Park Hill Stakes. During that annus mirabilis her other winners included Doutelle in two Classic trials and the Cumberland Lodge Stakes, and Pall Mall in the New (now Norfolk) Stakes.

As a four-year-old in 1958 Doutelle beat Ballymoss in the Ormonde Stakes, but in the King George Ballymoss proved himself a champion as Almeria and Doutelle filled the minor placings. Almeria then ran in the Doncaster Cup, and the temperamental filly would have won had she consented to go past her pacemaker Agreement, who sprang a 25-1 shock in the first of his two victories in the race.

The owner's star performer that year was Pall Mall, who was Boyd-Rochfort's second-string in the 2,000 Guineas, as the trainer also had the favourite Bald Eagle, who was far superior at home. Pall Mall, a 20-1 shot ridden by Doug Smith, led in the Dip and beat Major Portion by half a length with Bald Eagle unplaced. He then won the inaugural Lockinge Stakes by five lengths.

The Queen was suffering from a heavy cold and could not attend Newmarket. But winning a Classic with a home-bred like Pall Mall meant more to her than victory with a horse leased from the National Stud, as Carrozza had been.

Pall Mall was even better as a four-year-old, winning the Lockinge again and putting up a magnificent performance to be second under top weight in the Royal Hunt Cup, conceding 20lb to the winner. Also at Royal Ascot in 1959, the Queen enjoyed a double via Doutelle's half-brother Above Suspicion in the St James's Palace Stakes and Pindari in the King Edward VII Stakes. By Pinza out of Sun Chariot, Pindari was later third in the St Leger.

This golden age for the royal racehorses ended in 1960, when the Queen would have drawn a blank but for two temperamental horses in training with Tom Masson in Sussex.

This started a decade of disappointments and personnel changes. Charles Moore, the royal stud manager since 1937, retired in 1962. Peter Hastings-Bass started to train for the Queen in 1964, but died of cancer a few months later and was succeeded at his Kingsclere stables by his assistant Ian Balding. Dick Hern, at West Ilsley, joined the trainers' roster in 1967.

In 1964 it was announced the National Stud would sell all its mares and foals and become a stallion station. This meant it would have no more foals to lease to the Queen for their racing careers.

Boyd-Rochfort produced two shock big-race winners for the owner-breeder in 1965. Canisbay, a son of Doutelle, was a 20-1 shot when scoring a short-head victory in the Eclipse, and Apprentice was the outsider of five when winning both the Yorkshire Cup and the Goodwood Cup.

The last of the 'hirelings' was Hopeful Venture, who Murless trained to win the Princess of Wales's Stakes and come second to Ribocco in the St Leger in 1967. As a four-year-old the colt won the Ormonde and Hardwicke Stakes, and surpassed himself with victory in the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud, with the great Vaguely Noble third.

The end of the 1968 season marked a decisive change in the royal racing operation, as its two main trainers ceased to be involved; the newly knighted Boyd-Rochfort had retired and Murless no longer had any National Stud-breds.

For the next two decades Hern and Balding were the principal royal trainers, sharing the yearlings bred at the Royal Studs. At the start of 1970 Lord Porchester (later Earl of Carnarvon) became the Queen's racing manager. A prominent owner-breeder in his own right, he had been giving advice to his childhood friend for many years, and the arrangement was now put on a formal footing. At the same time Michael Oswald became her stud manager.

A pair of royal fillies, Escorial and Highclere, won the two divisions of a maiden race at Newbury in 1973. Escorial then won the Fillies' Mile at Ascot – that inaugural running was called the Green Shield Stakes – and Highclere developed into a dual Classic winner.

A granddaughter of Hypericum, Highclere won the 1974 1,000 Guineas without a prep race. The blinkered filly held on by a short head from Polygamy, who went on to win the Oaks with Escorial unplaced.

Highclere bypassed the Oaks because it was thought Epsom would not suit her and she ran instead in the French equivalent, the Prix de Diane, in which she beat Comtesse De Loir by two lengths. The Queen was at Chantilly to witness her biggest triumph on foreign soil, and that evening Dick Hern, jockey Joe Mercer and their wives attended a family party at Windsor Castle in celebration.

Dunfermline and Willie Carson return after triumphing in the 1977 Oaks at EpsomCredit: Mark Cranham (racingpost.com/photos)

Her filly was then second to Dahlia in the King George. Her other dual Classic winner, Dunfermline, came second in the May Hill Stakes and Fillies' Mile, and made a winning reappearance in 1977 in the Pretty Polly Stakes at Newmarket, ridden by Hern's new stable jockey, Willie Carson.

The Oaks favourite, Durtal, got loose in the preliminaries and had to be withdrawn. In the race Dunfermline kept on dourly to lead in the last 100 yards and beat Freeze The Secret by three-quarters of a length. She was then third in a slowly run Yorkshire Oaks.

In the St Leger the Vincent O'Brien-trained Alleged started odds-on favourite, but Lester Piggott sent him to the front early in the long straight, making the race a stiff test of stamina and setting it up for Dunfermline, who stayed on resolutely to lead below the distance and triumph by a length and a half.

Dunfermline thus became the only horse ever to beat subsequent dual Arc winner Alleged, and it was perhaps the best single performance by any of the Queen's horses – surpassing Aureole's victory in the King George and Pall Mall's second place in the Royal Hunt Cup.

In the very next race her half-sister Tartan Pimpernel won the May Hill Stakes. It was the Queen's Silver Jubilee year and her heavy schedule of official duties prevented her witnessing either of those Classic victories in person. Yet they were particularly satisfying for the owner-breeder, as she had bought Dunfermline's granddam, Stroma (also dam of Canisbay), as a yearling for 1,150gns at Doncaster in 1956.

Three weeks later Dunfermline finished fourth to Alleged over the shorter trip of the Arc. She failed to win as a four-year-old.

The Queen then had three Derby runners in four years, starting with Almeria's grandson English Harbour, who beat Ile De Bourbon in the 1978 Predominate Stakes but flopped at Epsom.

Milford, Highclere's first foal, ran away with the Lingfield Derby Trial the following year but finished tenth behind stablemate Troy in the 200th Derby, although he later won the Princess of Wales's Stakes. And Church Parade was a distant fifth behind Shergar at Epsom in 1981.

Highclere's daughter Height Of Fashion won the May Hill Stakes and Fillies' Mile, and in 1982 she won the Lupe Stakes and bypassed the Oaks in favour of the Princess of Wales's Stakes, in which she beat older horses decisively.

She was then sold for a reported £1.5 million to Hamdan Al Maktoum, and the proceeds enabled the Queen to buy West Ilsley Stables from the Sobell/Weinstock family. This seemed a reasonable decision at the time, yet Height Of Fashion turned out to be easily the best broodmare ever bred by the Queen, whereas ownership of West Ilsley caused huge problems.

Height Of Fashion's offspring included an outstanding champion in Nashwan, as well as Unfuwain, Nayef, and daughters who carried on her line. If she had been retained at the Royal Studs, she would not have been mated with the stallions who sired her illustrious offspring because their fees would have been unaffordable on the royal budget, but she would have been a considerable asset.

In 1984 Dick Hern was paralysed in a hunting fall, and in June 1988 he underwent heart surgery. In August, amid concerns about his ability to continue training, his wife Sheilah was told by Lord Carnarvon that his West Ilsley lease would not be renewed when it ran out in November 1989, although he was later informed that he could continue to live there indefinitely.

Dick Hern: decision not to renew the trainer's West Ilsley lease caused a furoreCredit: Unknown

Hern's dismissal was not made public until March 1989, when an official announcement stated that the Queen had appointed as his replacement William Hastings-Bass – a son of Peter Hastings-Bass, brother-in-law of Ian Balding and Carnarvon's godson.

The depth of the public's anger at Hern's treatment became manifest when Nashwan triumphed in the 2,000 Guineas and the trainer, in his wheelchair, was greeted with cheers in the winner's enclosure. Further proof of his undiminished ability to train was provided by Nashwan's victories in the Derby, Eclipse and King George – results that were all the more embarrassing because he was a son of Height Of Fashion.

Carnarvon bore the brunt of the criticism but the Queen's personal reputation was also damaged, even in the staunchly royalist world of racing. The perception was that she was kicking a man when he was down – sacking one of Britain's greatest trainers just when he was at his most vulnerable.

This perception was diminished only slightly by the announcement that Hern would be allowed to train at West Ilsley until November 1990.

Just as the furore was fading, Hastings-Bass trained a top-level winner in the royal colours. This was Unknown Quantity, who was more than a stone below top class but in August 1989 won the Grade 1 Arlington Handicap in Chicago, carrying bottom weight against only four rivals.

After moving to West Ilsley, Hastings-Bass – or the Earl of Huntingdon as he became in 1990 – trained several more Pattern winners for the Queen, most of them abroad, but in 1999 he gave up training and she sold the stables to Mick Channon.

In that same year Sir Michael Stoute and Richard Hannon both had their first royal runners. Stoute – based at Freemason Lodge, where Boyd-Rochfort had trained – saddled Flight Of Fancy, an unlucky second in the 2001 Oaks.

The Queen suffered grievous losses with the deaths of Lord Carnarvon and the Queen Mother. Carnarvon's death in 2001 ended a lifetime friendship; his son-in-law John Warren succeeded him as racing manager in all but name.

On the Queen Mother's death in 2002 her horses were inherited by the Queen, who therefore owned her first jumpers since Monaveen. The best of them was the Nicky Henderson-trained Barbers Shop, who came seventh to Kauto Star in the 2009 Cheltenham Gold Cup.

By now the Queen's status in racing had suffered a steady decline from dual champion owner in the 1950s to bit-part player in the 21st century. The two main reasons were the decision by the National Stud to stop breeding horses – the source of Landau, Carrozza, Hopeful Venture and many others – and the unique financial constraints on the royal racing and breeding operation.

It had to be self-financing, and seen to be so, because there would have been a public outcry had she liquidated some of her assets in order to indulge in her favourite hobby, especially by buying yearlings.

In addition, because of the troubles in Northern Ireland, it was politically impossible for the Royal Studs to use Irish stallions (the best in Europe) for more than two decades from 1973.

Height Of Fashion, the broodmare of a lifetime, was sold to one of the Arab owner-breeders who spent billions of pounds on the sport and, in so doing, raised the standard of British racing.

The rise of Coolmore made the top races even more fiercely competitive. Therefore, in a bid to revive her fortunes, the Queen entered into various deals with other prominent owner-breeders, and that policy produced Carlton House and Estimate.

The Queen with her Ascot Gold Cup winner EstimateCredit: Edward Whitaker

Carlton House was bred by Darley and ran in the royal colours after an exchange of horses with Sheikh Mohammed. In 2011 he won the Dante Stakes and started favourite for both the Derby and the Irish Derby, finishing third and fourth respectively.

He won the Brigadier Gerard Stakes as a four-year-old and then became the first royal horse to be trained in Australia when transferred to Gai Waterhouse in Sydney, although he never won again.

Estimate, bred by the Aga Khan, ran away with the Queen's Vase at Royal Ascot in her owner's Diamond Jubilee year, and in the 2013 Gold Cup she showed plenty of stamina and courage in a driving finish to prevail by a neck and make the Queen the first reigning monarch to own a winner of the race.

She was the Queen's first Group/Grade 1 winner since Unknown Quantity 24 years before, and the first in Britain since Dunfermline 36 years before. She won the Doncaster Cup as a five-year-old.

Carlton House and Estimate were trained by Stoute, as was the Darley-bred Dartmouth, who in 2016 beat Highland Reel in the Hardwicke Stakes and finished third to that champion in the King George.

The owner enjoyed a mini-revival in her fortunes in terms of quantity if not quality. In 2014 she equalled her personal best calendar-year score of 30 wins in 1957, and beat it with 36 in 2019 and 39 in 2021, Flat and jumps combined.