Sir Mark Prescott is to train horses for King Charles, the first time he will have had runners for the reigning monarch.
The Arc-winning trainer has been sent a pair of two-year-old fillies who are owned by HM The King and HM The Queen Consort.
Prescott has previously trained one horse for the owners Dark Swan, which raced for the Prince Of Wales and Duchess Of Cornwall, but never trained for Queen Elizabeth.
He will join a roster that includes Sir Michael Stoute, Andrew Balding, John and Thady Gosden, William Haggas,, Richard Hannon, Ralph Beckett and Nicky Henderson over jumps.
“I’ve got two rather nice two-year-old fillies,” he said. “I had one for them a few years ago that was given to them by Qatar Racing, which I didn’t do very well with, so I am pleased to have been given another chance. Both look as if they will run at two at some point.”
Prescott has trained more than 2,000 winners from his base in Newmarket in a career spanning more than 50 years.
He enjoyed his greatest success in October last year when saddling Alpinista to win Europe’s richest race, the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.
She has proved the best of many fillies to have reached the top under Prescott including two-time Champion Stakes winner Alborada, Nunthorpe and Prix de l’Abbaye winner Marsha and Prix de Diane winner Confidential Lady.
Pivotal, who won the King’s Stand and Nunthorpe Stakes, is the trainer’s only male Group 1 winner.
The fillies which he will train for the King and Queen Consort are one by Almanzor out of unraced Danehill Dancer mare Star Value and another by Shalaa out of Group 2 winner Al Wathna.
In January King Charles enjoyed his biggest success since inheriting the Royal string when his only racehorse in Australia, Chalk Stream, won a Listed prize on Australia Day.
The winner was trained by Chris Waller who has also taken charge of the filly Magical Lagoon, winner of the Irish Oaks and Ribblesdale Stakes in 2022 when trained by Jessica Harrington, who has become the latest Irish or British star to move to Australia.
The four-year-old, who is owned by Yulong Investments, last ran in Japan in November where she finished last in the Queen Elizabeth II Cup.
