"For our whole lives, you gave us yours. We thank you Ma'am."
The fond words adorned a colourful bouquet of flowers laid at the entrance to Doncaster Racecourse. Above the collection of floral tributes was a picture that reflected the Queen's love of horse racing.
Her Majesty was at her happiest, mirroring Frankie Dettori's elation at winning the 2019 Ascot Gold Cup. It was a race in which she too had celebrated success with Estimate six years earlier, at one of her favourite events of the entire year.
Replays of her reaction to the mare's triumph were widely shared following her death this week at the age of 96. Nothing brought the Queen more joy than her horses.
So it was fitting that the sportsman in the picture, who had so many special days with the former monarch, would start St Leger day with a winner.
Dettori, visibly moved during a two minute silence before racing, took the Group 2 Coral Champagne Stakes aboard Chaldean.
The family of Andrew Balding, the trainer of the colt, have a long association training the Queen's magnificent thoroughbreds.
Abandoning his trademark celebratory dismount, Dettori reflected on the subdued atmosphere as racing remembered its greatest supporter.
He described the "empty mood" of the weighing room, barely an hour after he joined colleagues in observing the silence in tribute. "We're going to miss her a lot," he said.
Jockeys wore black armbands and a video tribute was played to the crowd, down around half to 12,000 on its usual numbers.
Rescheduled from Saturday as a mark of respect, it was a card on which one of the Queen's best horses, Dunfermline, galloped to victory in the feature St Leger in 1977.
The title this year went to David Egan's mount Eldar Eldarov, who strode two lengths clear of Haskoy.
Dettori, the rider of the runner-up, was not so fortunate on this occasion, as his mount was demoted to fourth for causing interference to a rival. He had earlier pleased punters with victory riding Kinross (5-6f) in the Group 2 Cazoo Park Stakes, while Balding also doubled up.
Coltrane thwarted a rather lacklustre 2-9 Coral Doncaster Cup favourite Trueshan.
You can leave your tributes to Queen Elizabeth II here
Some racegoers might have been out of pocket but their hearts were full while singing the national anthem on the poignant afternoon.
Dozens chosen to sign books of remembrance that were dotted about around the course.
The weather, overcast with the occasional glimpse of sunlight, matched the mood of proceedings.
Balding, whose winners for the Queen include Tactical in the Windsor Castle Stakes at Royal Ascot two years ago, summed up how most were feeling.
“A big hole has been left in everybody’s life, but we’ve been so privileged to have worked for her and known her so long," he said. "It’s a great loss.”
