John Warren: The Queen is not in racing for the thrill of winning

Evening Standard

This is the story of the moment the Queen knew she might have a Derby winner. Just over three weeks ago Carlton House, the hot favourite for this Saturday's race at Epsom, ran in the Dante Stakes at York, the premier trial for Derby hopefuls. The Queen was watching on television when John Warren, her racing manager, came on the phone.

Warren takes up the story: "I'm not going to go into too many personal details. She managed to get to a television. She squeezed it in which was quite difficult. When I was put through, the race was just off. Carlton House was behind a couple of horses. The jockey, Ryan Moore, thought, 'Well I can take the easy run on the side or I can shove him in between the two horses and hope that he is going to learn something.' Carlton House didn't flinch and the Queen then shouted, 'Goodness, he's gone straight through the gap.'"