King Charles III is set to bid for an historic victory in one of the most prestigious races in Britain next Saturday - hours after his own coronation.
Royal colt Slipofthepen will bid to win the first Classic of the Flat season, the QIPCO 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket which his mother, the late Queen, won in 1958 with the aptly named Pall Mall.
Slipofthepen is unbeaten, having won his only two starts to date – the first as a two-year-old at Kempton Park in November and then again this month at the same track for his trainers John and Thady Gosden.
Bred by the Queen, Slipofthepen will line up in the names of HM The King and HM The Queen Consort. He completed a racecourse gallop at Newmarket’s Rowley Mile Racecourse on Thursday under James Doyle.
John Gosden said: “He worked well and we’ll obviously make our decision over the next few days.”
Doyle has ridden Slipofthepen for both of his victories, but legendary rider Frankie Dettori – who retires later this year – is also retained by the Gosdens.
Asked who might ride the King’s horse on the day, Gosden added: “It depends. Frankie at the moment obviously has Chaldean, the Dewhurst winner, so we’ll just have to see.
“Depending on what else runs, James may well be available. There are decisions to be made.”
Earlier this month, John Warren – racing manager to The King and Queen Consort – said the monarch will watch the race on TV after the Coronation.
“As far as the owners are concerned they won’t be able to think of anything else but the Coronation, but they would never prevent the horse participating if we recommended that is where he ought to go,” he said.
“It would be an added bonus and they would watch after the event. The King has had very good osmosis in tuning into the bloodstock side of The Queen’s life.
“He has always said when he had the responsibility of taking the bloodstock portfolio on he would take it seriously and he has, wonderfully supported by the Queen Consort at the same time. It is a wonderful thing for racing they have both taken such an interest.”
