Queen Elizabeth II and Queen Mother at Epsom

June 2, 1954 - Epsom, England, United Kingdom - (L-R) QUEEN ELIZABETH The Queen Mother, 53, and her daughter QUEEN ELIZABETH II, 28, discuss the Queen's horse Landau's chances as they watch the parade before the Epsom Derby. The Derby began in 1780, since when it has always been a highlight of the cultural and sporting calendar and attracts vast crowds of racegoers from every level of British society. Notable racing fan The Queen is a regular visitor. There is a story that once as a child Queen Elizabeth II was asked what she would most like to become. Promptly she answered: A horse. The Queen today is not only a passionately interested horsewoman but also the industrious and ambitious owner of a considerable racing stable. Elizabeth's black three-year-old, Landau, is one of the latest of a succession of horses the Queen has owned since she was a small child. Her first mount, a Shetland pony, was given to her by her grandfather, George V, when she was four. When she was 12, Captain Moore, her father's trainer, took her with the King on a tour of inspection of the royal stud at Sandringham. When showing one of the mares, Bread Card, Moore's memory temporarily deserted him. I can't remember her pedigree offhand, sir, he confessed apologetically. I know it! piped Lilibet's shrill, treble voice in the background. She is by the Derby winner, Manna, out of Book Debt by Buchan. And she was quite right, too. In 1948 Elizabeth got her first race horse, the filly Astrakhan, a wedding present from the Aga Khan and the next year the Princess registered her colors. Under steeplechase rules, she also registered a partnership with her mother, and each owned a half share in the Irish jumper, Monaveen. One afternoon in April, 1950 Elizabeth was watching Philip play polo in Malta when she got a telegram telling her of her first win under flat-racing rules, Astrakhan had taken the Merry Maidens Stakes at Hurst Park. Elizabeth smiled very happily, according to bystanders. In December she got another and sadder cable in Malta: Monaveen had broken a leg and had been shot. The Queen has never owned a jumper since. Racing is the Queen's great pastime. She is devoted to the sport and the traditions which govern it in Britain. It is her single interest outside her family and duties, and she approaches it as she does everything else: studiously, persistently and ardently. Between races she mingles quite unself-consciously with the crowds in the paddock or the clubhouse enclosure, and is not expected to notice all the men who raise their hats as she walks by. She looks the horses over carefully before the race, and discusses them animatedly with her manager or trainer. During the race, in moments of tension, she clenches her fist and gently punches herself in the stomach. The popular suspicion is that the Queen plays the horses, but the truth is that she does not bet. She does, as they say in England, have her card marked by a professional, which means that she buys a dope sheet, but only as an indication of which horses she should watch. The ownership and management of several dozen horses, which can bring annually a profit or loss of tens of thousands of dollars, is quite exciting enough to make most people willing to dispense with the additional thrill of betting

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1780 According Additional Ambitious Animatedly Annually Answered Approaches Asked Astrakhan Attracts Betting Bring Buchan Buys Bystanders Calendar Cant Carefully Chances Clubhouse Colors Confessed Considerable Debt Devoted Discuss Discusses Dispense Does Dollars Dope Dozen Duties Elizabeths Else Enclosure Enough Epsom Everything Exciting Expected Filly Gently Govern Grandfather Happily Herself Highlight Horsewoman Hurst Indication Industrious Inspection Interested Jumper Landau Level Loss Maidens Management Manna Mares Means Memory Moments Notice Ownership Paddock Partnership Passionately Pastime Pedigree Piped Pony Profit Promptly Punches Quite Racegoers Raise Registered Regular Remember Rules Sandringham Share Shetland Shrill Smiled Stable Stakes Steeplechase Stomach Stud Succession Suspicion Telegram Telling Temporarily Tension Three-year-old Thrill Traditions Treble Truth Vast Walks Willing

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