It is well documented that The Queen has a passion for horses and has often been seen attending some of the biggest meetings around. She will have been disappointed to miss out on the Epsom Derby over her Platinum Jubilee weekend but she had her greatest day as a horse owner when Estimate won the 2013 Ascot Gold Cup, the biggest race of the meeting.
Punters and royal fans will be hoping the Queen will be in attendance at this year’s edition of Royal Ascot, which commences today. Royal Ascot is said to be one of the Queen's favourite events of the year, with her own horses frequently running in the races. Her horses don the famous colours, a purple jacket with gold braid, red sleeves and a black velvet cap with a gold fringe.
New research conducted by OLBG revealed just how much prize money Her Majesty has won over the years. Since 1988, the world’s second longest reigning monarch has won a staggering £8.7 million from horse racing. In the last three and half decades, Her Majesty has entered horses in 3,441 races in the UK and won 566 of them. The Queen’s most successful year as a horse race owner came just last year, winning 36 races, the most she has managed in a year, after entering 166, the highest number of races a horse of hers has entered in a calendar year.
This gave The Queen a win percentage of 22%, along with earnings of £584,399. Her least successful year came in 2002, having entered a horse in just 61 races, the second lowest number after 56 in 2001, and claimed just £79,542 in prize money. Perhaps her golden jubilee and the death of the Queen Mother Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon, contributed to a lack of horse race entries 20 years ago. This year, The Queen is enjoying a good year in racing and has won 20% of the races her horses have entered in so far, a striking distance from her most successful win rate of 24% in 1999.
Furthermore, body language expert Darren Stanton, analysed the Queen’s love of horses and horse racing. “The Queen’s love of racing and the extreme passion that she shows once again just demonstrates how human and down-to-earth the Queen is as she is showing all the normal emotions that we all display," he began.
“This is evident in footage of her celebrating her horse, Estimate, winning the Ascot Gold Cup in 2013; the footage of the Queen watching her horse triumph is one of the most revealing and fantastic pieces of footage of the Queen there is. The Queen makes several interesting gestures and often leans forward when watching her horses, which is a sign of great interest. When watching her horse win, she has the most genuine and engaging expressions of enjoyment on her face."
He added: "The crows feet at the side of her eyes - which everyone possesses regardless of age - are fully engaged showing that she is in a moment of most ecstatic joy. She also slams the palms of her hands down on the counter in front of her which again is a gesture we tend to make when we have just witnessed something that we are truly passionate about. The Queen also leans back and puts out her chest, which is a gesture of pride and achievement."
Over the Platinum Jubilee weekend, the deep connection Her Majesty shares with her horses were explained, and Stanton offered his perspective on her relationship with her cherished animals. “The photograph of the Queen and two horses released to mark her recent birthday is interesting because the horses are very large and could easily pull away from Her Majesty, who is naturally quite small,” he said. “However, it’s clear that she has a deep rapport with both horses and they know just who is in charge.
"Just like with humans that can build a connection and a bridge to other people in terms of trust, integrity and openness, it is very normal for people to also build the same kind of trust with animals, especially horses. It’s clear that the horses and the Queen have such a deep connection that she trusts them not to misbehave and they accept the Queen is in charge, so it is very much what we call in psychology a ‘power pose’ that demonstrates the Queen’s high level of confidence in her horses."
