#Joe Mercer

The summer of 1966 was a memorable one, as Aunt Edith became the first filly to win the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot in what was the 16th renewal. Trained by Noel Murless and ridden by Lester Piggott, Aunt Edith was bouncing back from an odds-on defeat in the Hardwicke Stakes at Royal Ascot, where she finished a 15-length…

First published on July 20, 2015, Steve Dennis looks back at the race of the century, when Grundy and Bustino went eye to eye down the Ascot straight Naturally, there has to be a race considered to be'the race of the century', but why this one? What elevated this particular race to the general understanding that, in 100 years, there had never been…

THE QUEEN was never happier than when at the racecourse. During her 70 year reign, the sport was her one true love away from the serious stuff. At any spare moment, she would pore over the form and study the bloodlines of her horses. Nothing got past her on or off the track. Whether Her Majesty was with a trainer, fellow breeder or jockey, she was…

It was the first running of York Racecourse's biggest race - and it produced one of the greatest shocks in European racing history. The Benson & Hedges Gold Cup run at York on Aug. 15, 1972 had more plot-lines than a Shakespeare comedy. This was the first running of the race, now known as the Juddmonte International, one of the classiest races of…

The Queen owned numerous superstar horses during her remarkable life in racing. Here are some of the best. . . The Queen had relatively few colts try their luck at Epsom in the Derby and none finished better than Aureole who, but for an inspired Sir Gordon Richards on Pinza, would have carried off the great prize just four days after the…

Lester Piggott was too busy to visit the cinema in his youth. The teenager whose life was consumed by racing missed out on the golden era of Hollywood westerns, in which fabled gunslingers roamed across new frontiers. Those 1950s productions were a metaphor of Piggott himself. He was the cold-eyed marksman who never blinked, and who took no…

The Juddmonte International Stakes has helped cement the reputation of many great champions and next week the unbeaten Baaeed will be the headline act as he seeks to keep his flawless record intact. The four-year-old colt will be stepping up to a mile-and-a-quarter for the first time after successive wins in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes, Lockinge,…