Newmarket's National Horseracing Museum remembers Queen Elizabeth II

The Queen's love of horses is well known and she frequently visited Newmarket

Statue of the Queen at Newmarket
Author: Jasmine OakPublished 7th Oct 2022

Staff at the National Horseracing Museum in Newmarket have been charing fond memories of the Queen, who was a frequent visitor to the races.

She opened the original National Horseracing Museum and served as its patron.

Anne-Marie Hogan is the Director at the museum - she told us she saw the Queen on several occasions.

"I have seen her at the races. I've seen her at Royal Alaska, I'm fortunate enough to have been in the parade ring with horses that have been running, and she would have passed relatively close by.

"There was definitely some sort of ethereal magic about her, I think because she was the queen.

She added: "I think just always, she just conducted herself so incredibly. I can't ever imagine she ever put a foot wrong.

"I mean, she's almost too good to be true. I think it's perhaps my perception of her.

"I think there are lots of people have said as well, she probably came from sort of like a bygone era where people were extremely respectful and behaved very well and treated others extremely well.

"That's what I sort of take from her. I think she was just a very, very special woman, quite frankly."

The museum hosts a Royalty and Racing Gallery which captures key moments in Jockey Club history and its connection with the royal family.

Anne Marie said: "So it talks about the history of the royal family from the beginnings, from the beginnings of the Jockey Club in the 1700s.

"That's what that gallery is all about, the history of racing and how interlinked the royal family have always been.

"In one of our galleries which royalty and racing, there's a great image of the queen when her horse Estimate wins the Gold Cup at Ascot. "To see her so animated. It clearly was a sport that she was, extremely passionate about and also extremely knowledgeable about.

"She's the only monarch that has actually won the Gold Cup at Ascot. So I mean, in it's 217-year history, so that's quite something in itself.

"There are many, many pictures of her and her obvious connection with them (the horses).

"So certainly for us, it's been an amazing connection. She's done so much for the racing industry.

"You know, she's brought in other royal families, you know. Certainly, I think our racing industry has really benefited from her huge interest and her huge love of the sport.

"Talking to people who knew her The Queen well, she was involved from conception, because she was a great horse breeder as well.

"She inherited thestuds at Sandringham from her father on his death. Most of her horses were homebred. So she would have been involved in the meetings and all of the pedigree that goes behind that.

" And then certainly would have liked to have got the best out of her horses, understanding that obviously, not all horses are champions, so would have been looking for where they could be best deployed to make the most of their talents.

"But certainly I think whenever you see pictures of her with her horses ... from a very young age, just the way she looks around them, they're clearly are very comfortable with her.

"And she clearly is very comfortable with them. Horses have a kind of special quality as well. And I think they, they sense when people are at ease and that kind of thing.

"And horses themselves, are just as sensitive. And I think she was clearly a very sensitive lady around them."

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