The Queen and her family have always had a love of horses. From the Queen’s sixty-year obsession with breeding racehorses, to the family’s devotion to polo that crosses four generations. So where did the Queen’s love of horses begin? What are the secrets of the Queen’s racehorses? What are the Royal Family’s most famous equine dramas? All the Queen’s Horses, Channel 5 2020
She owns them, studies them, breeds them and races them. ibid.
Dunfermline was bred to compete in the British classics … 4 June 1977 Oaks: three days before the Queen’s Silver Jubilee celebrations. ibid.
More than 1,600 horses owned by the Queen have won races over the last 70 years. ibid.
Horseracing has always given the Queen enormous pleasure. H M Queen: A Remarkable Life, 2002
1921: Britain’s first ever gangland war between two gangs from different cities. Throughout 1921 hundreds of gangsters fight brutal running battles for control over illegal racecourse rackets. Thugs from Birmingham and south London on one side, Italian and Jewish mobs on the other. And at the root of these racecourse wars is a man called Billy Kimber, Britain’s first nationwide gangland kingpin. The Real Peaky Blinders II: The Racecourse Wars, BBC 2022
Just like prohibition of alcohol spurred the rise of organised crime and gangsterism in America, prohibition of gambling will have the same effect here. ibid.
The real money to be made in gambling in the 1910s is at the races themselves. These are the only places where respectable punters can legally go to bet. And where large amounts of cash is changing hands, gather the thieves and the rogues. ibid.
The Birmingham gang gets wind very quickly that Darby Sibini’s going to be coming in to support the Jewish bookmakers. ibid.
The so-called Battle of Epsom propounds the racecourse wars into the limelight. ibid.
‘We’ve never had anything like him … I’ve never had a horse that never gets tired. I’ve never had a horse where we don’t know where the limit is.’ Aidan O’Brien, post-Dewhurst Stakes 2023
Nijinsky: Triple Crown 1970; Best Mate: 3 Gold Cups 2004; Enable: King George at Royal Ascot 2019; Springter Sacre: Cheltenham comeback; Frankel: Guineas 2011; Istabrak, 3rd Champion Hurdle 2000; Brigadier Gerard, Champion Stakes, Newmarket, 1972; Desert Orchid 1990; Shergar, Epsom Derby 1981; Kauto Star 2009; Tiger Roll, Grand National 2019. Great Racehorses, ITV 2024
156,550. Nijinsky 1970; Mill Reef 1971; Nashwan 1989; Galileo 2001; Anthony van Dyck 2019; Authorized 2007; Shergar 1981; See the Stars 2009; Masar 2018; Golden Horn 2015; The Derby Through the Years, ITV 2024