Queen horsing around again

Ascot – Dream of Dreams gave trainer Michael Stoute a record-extending 82nd Royal Ascot winner as he landed the feature race the Diamond Jubilee Stakes on the final day of the meeting on Saturday.

One of those owners, for whom 75-year-old Stoute has trained a Royal Ascot winner, Queen Elizabeth II was present for the first time this week and received a roar from the 12 000 spectators as she stepped from her limousine.

Unlike Stoute, she finished the day without a winner – Reach For The Moon finishing second in the opening race and King’s Lynn an unlucky third in the Wokingham Handicap.

She and Stoute chatted away after Dream of Dreams cracked the Diamond Jubilee after finishing runner-up in the previous two.

“I thought I wasn’t going to have a Royal Ascot winner this year – this is the last runner we’ve got,” said Stoute, whose previous win in the race was 1985.

Frankie Dettori also had an audience with the Queen after finishing second on Reach For The Moon talking her through how the horse had run. –