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Historic Royal Ascot win for King Charles as Queen Camilla sheds tears of joy

Royal winners at the royal meeting are extremely special said Tom Marquand after riding Desert Hero to give King Charles a first victory as the reigning monarch

Published: Thu 22 Jun 2023, 9:10 PM

Updated: Thu 22 Jun 2023, 10:12 PM

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  • Leslie Wilson Jr

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King Charles III and Queen Camilla with Desert Hero at Royal Ascot. - AP

King Charles III and Queen Camilla with Desert Hero at Royal Ascot. - AP

King Charles III was filled with emotion after he claimed a landmark first Royal Ascot winner as the reigning monarch on Thursday when Desert Hero won the King George V Stakes.

Attending the Royal meeting for the third consecutive day King Charles was gifted with a surprise winner as the lesser fancied Desert Hero was ridden to a momentous victory by Tom Marquand in the famous Royal silks of his mother, the late Queen Elizabeth II. who enjoyed 24 Ascot successes over the course of her 70-year reign.


“Royal winners at the royal meeting are extremely special, especially this one,” Marquand told ITV Racing. “It will live high in my career, probably at the top for the rest of my days in the saddle."

Television cameras caught the celebrations in the royal box, where Princess Anne was also present, as King Charles and Queen Camilla enthusiastically waved to Marquand.

King Charles III and Queen Camilla with the King George V Stakes trophy. - AP

King Charles III and Queen Camilla with the King George V Stakes trophy. - AP

Desert Hero's trainer, William Haggas, saidL “It is obviously very important for racing, but it is important that the king and queen enjoy it, which they clearly appear to do, and long may that continue."

Speaking to ITV, Princess Anne's daughter, Zara Tindall, said: "Think how proud our grandmother, the Queen, would've been.

"To have a winner for Charles and Camilla and keep that dream alive was incredible. It's a new excitement. Like all those owners that come here and have a horse here having that dream, that hope and then fulfilling it is incredible.

"The horses are the main game here, that's why we get involved and love them and the competition, the adrenaline – it's indescribable," she added.

Meanwhile, Frankie Dettori, riding at Royal Ascot for the last time before he retires at the end of the year, celebrated a memorable ninth success in the Gold Cup (G1) aboard Courage Mon Ami.

It was a second victory for Dettori this week following success aboard Gregory in the Queen's Vase on Wednesday.

"It's unbelievable," an ecstatic Dettori told ITV Racing. "I thought it was a bridge too far from handicaps to a Group 1 but it was the perfect race. This is what it's all about.

"I thought he [Coltrane] was going to come back and in fairness my horse is still a baby but when the other horse did come back he picked up again."

The John and Thady Gosden-trained famously trained Stradivarius complete a hat-trick of victories in the iconic race.

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John Gosden said: "It's a great ride for Frankie and it crowns his week."

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