Tag: queen alexandra stakes

How old is Tom Marquand?

At the time of writing, Tom Marquand has recently hit the headlines by riding his first Royal Ascot winner, Who Dares Wins, in the Queen Alexandra Stakes, just 24 hours after his partner, Hollie Doyle, did likewise on Scarlet Dragon, in the Duke of Edinburgh Stakes, for the same connections. Earlier in 2020, with British racing suspended because of the coronavirus pandemic, Marquand continued to ply his trade, behind closed doors, in Australia. Indeed, on March 20, he recorded his first Group One victory on Addeybb, trained by William Haggas, in the Ranvet Stakes at Rosehill and his second, on the same horse, in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Randwick the following month.

Winning trainer William Haggas said of Marquand, ‘…I’ve said several times I believe him to be a future champion over here. I hope he stays in England to prove it.’

Born on March 30, 1998, so still only 22, Marquand has enjoyed a spectacular rise through the ranks. A graduate from the field of pony racing, he became apprenticed to Richard Hannon in 2014 and rode the one and only winner of his debut season, the two-year-old Mecado, in a four-runner selling stakes race at Kempton in December that year. However, less than a year later, in October, 2015, Marquand was crowned Champion Apprentice, edging out his nearest rival, Jack Garrity, 54-52 on the final day of the season.

Who trained Trelawny?

Although not quite in the same league as Brown Jack, who won the Queen Alexandra Stakes at Royal Ascot six years running between 1929 and 1934, Trelawny was, nonetheless, one of the most popular British racehorses of the early Sixties. Two years running, in 1962 and 1963, Trelawny won both the Ascot Stakes and the Queen Alexandra Stakes at the Royal Meeting and although failing to complete a third consecutive double in 1964, lost nothing in defeat. He was second in the Ascot Stakes, conceding an eye-watering 40lb, or 2st 12lb, to the winner and would have walked over in the Queen Alexandra Stakes had racing on Thursday and Friday not been abandoned because of the waterlogged state of the course.

Trelawny was trained by George Todd at Manton, near Marlborough, Wiltshire. Todd was renowned as a trainer of staying horses and an intrepid gambler; he bought the Manton Estate from Tattersalls in 1947 and reputedly paid off the balance – £47,000, or £1.85 million by modern standards – with the proceeds from a series of winning bets on Dramatic in the Lincoln Handicap on the Carholme in 1950, which he carried to London in a paper bag. He would remain at Manton until his retirement in 1973.

Which is the longest race run at Royal Ascot?

The longest race run at Royal Ascot is the Queen Alexandra Stakes, a conditions, or weight-for-age, race over 2 miles, 5 furlongs and 143 yards, traditionally contested as the final race of the five-day Royal Meeting. Inaugurated in 1864, as the Alexandra Plate, the race is named in honour of Alexandra of Denmark, the wife of King Edward VII. Prior to 2006, the Queen Alexandra Stakes was run over a distance of 2 miles, 6 furlongs and 34 yards, but it was shortened to its current distance as a result of realignment of the track during the £200-million redevelopment of Ascot Racecourse. Nevertheless, the Queen Alexandra Stakes remains the longest race, not only at Royal Ascot, but anywhere in Britain, on the Flat racing calendar; it is, in fact, just five yards longer than the Pontefact Marathon Handicap.

The Queen Alexandra Stakes is synonymous with the name of Brown Jack, who won the Champion Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival and the Ascot Stakes at Royal Ascot in 1928, but subsequently won the Queen Alexandra Stakes six years running in 1929, 1930, 1931, 1932, 1933 and 1934. Unsurprisingly, Brown Jack became one of the most popular British racehorses of his day, if not all time; his achievement is commemorated by a life-sized bronze statue, by celebrated equestrian painter Sir Alfred Munnings, which overlooks the paddock at Ascot Racecourse.