The historic royal racing colours are set to go to post with a live chance in next month’s St Leger at Doncaster, the final Classic of the season, after Desert Hero, who was bred by the late Queen Elizabeth II, made a successful step up from handicaps to Group Three company in the Gordon Stakes here on Thursday.
King Charles and Queen Camilla were at Ascot to see Desert Hero work his way through a series of gaps to win the King George V Handicap at last month’s royal meeting, and the three-year-old needed to be brave once again as Tom Marquand, his rider, looked for running room from two furlongs out before switching to quicken past the front-running Chesspiece well inside the final furlong.