Ed Chamberlin column: Tribute to Her Majesty The Queen

Racing has lost its greatest friend.

What a sad day it was on Thursday when news reached Doncaster that Her Majesty The Queen had died at the age of 96.

She has been our sport’s most important supporter as an owner, breeder, owner of Ascot, yet her influence goes far, far beyond that.

You only have to read the tributes form home and abroad over the last 24 hours to realise the impact she made.

There can be no question that she is the single most important figure in the history of British horse racing. Her first winner as an owner was at Fontwell in 1949 and since then she has seen every possible drama, scandal and crisis, yet has been this steady constant through all that time for horse racing.

A lot has been made in the wonderful newspaper coverage of her passing of her love of racing, about how the Derby and Royal Ascot were the first dates ringed in her diary every year, but we must also remember she would be a regular visitor on QIPCO British Champions Day too.

In the feature we did with her racing manager John Warren on ITV for Derby day we learned of her love of the spring meeting at Newbury. That was the time she’d visit all her trainers and it’s obvious she had a hunger for information, questioning the jockeys and trainers, but above all she was clearly the most amazing listener.

Picking up on all the bits of information about her horses to add to her encyclopaedic knowledge of the bloodlines, it was a time of the year she cherished.

I got an amazing insight around the table that day with John Warren, Sir Michael Stoute and the man she called “her jockey”, Ryan Moore.

Above all else that shone through was her love of the horse. Each one she treated almost like one of her children, wanting them to achieve the best they could do. If a colt or filly was capable of getting a C Grade, say, on the racecourse, she’d be thrilled to see them fulfil that potential.

Nowhere was her love of the horse more evident than when Estimate won the Gold Cup at Royal Ascot and during the race it was wonderful to see her joy in the Royal Box – our sport at its best being broadcast around the world.

But immediately afterwards she just wanted to be with her horse, connecting with the mare in the winners’ enclosure. There are some amazing pictures and paintings of their special one-on-one time.

The one race that eluded her Majesty was the Derby. She came so close with Aureole but in more recent times Carlton House was very much the one that got away.

He suffered the setback ten days before Epsom then everything went wrong in the race itself, but he still came within a length of winning the Classic.

It’s very sad that she’s passed and the sport is unified in grief but it’s right to be celebrating her incredible life and racing should be thankful for everything that she did for us.

We were the Queen’s sport, she our patron, and I fully back the decision for the St Leger to take place this weekend, moving to Sunday as a mark of respect.

We will be on air on ITV from 1pm to pay our tributes to Her Majesty The Queen and then show a spectacular day’s racing from Doncaster and the Curragh.

I hope the racecourse will be flooded with families carrying union jacks to pay their respects, but also say thank you and celebrate her most incredible life.

It’s been such a difficult week.

On Wednesday I travelled to Ireland to pay my own respects to Jack de Bromhead, who died so tragically at the age of 13 in a pony racing accident.

I just wanted the de Bromhead family to know we are thinking of and supporting them on this side of the Irish Sea.

They have so many dark and difficult years ahead but hopefully they can take some comfort from knowing they are in our thoughts – and will remain so.

The funeral was so well supported. I was listening in the street outside the church among hundreds and hundreds of others, from Jack’s school friends to trainers, jockeys and owners. Everyone wanted to be there.

I listened on the tannoy as the priest said: “The de Bromhead family have taken us to the highest of sporting highs and now the deepest of sorrows. We support them in both.”

And we will.

We are heading towards the end of a hugely difficult week for our sport – and the country too.

I’ll leave my final words in this column to Paddington Bear, who said it all for everyone.

“Thank you Ma’am, for everything.”

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