Queen Elizabeth II Stakes on arvau

Wikipedia / Queen Elizabeth II Stakes

|} The Queen Elizabeth II Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to horses aged three years or older. It is run at Ascot over a distance of 1 mile (1,609 metres), and it is scheduled to take place as part of British Champions Day each year in October.

History

The event was established in 1955, and it was originally held in September. It was created when a race called the Knights' Royal Stakes was renamed in honour of Queen Elizabeth II. The first three winners were all trained in France.

The present system of race grading was introduced in 1971, and the "QEII" was initially given Group 2 status. It was promoted to Group 1 level in 1987.

The race was added to the Breeders' Cup Challenge series in 2008. From this point the winner earned an automatic invitation to compete in the Breeders' Cup Mile. It was removed from the series in 2012.

The Queen Elizabeth II Stakes was switched to October in 2011. It became part of a new fixture called British Champions Day, and its prize fund was increased fourfold to £1,000,000. It served as the mile-category final of the British Champions Series from 2011 to 2024.

Records

Most successful horse (2 wins):

Brigadier Gerard – 1971, 1972
Rose Bowl – 1975, 1976

Leading jockey (8 wins):

Willie Carson – Rose Bowl (1975, 1976), Trusted (1977), Homing (1978), Known Fact (1980), Teleprompter (1984), Lahib (1992), Bahri (1995)

Leading trainer (5 wins):

Saeed bin Suroor – Mark of Esteem (1996), Dubai Millennium (1999), Summoner (2001), Ramonti (2007), Poet's Voice (2010)

Leading owner (5 wins):

Godolphin – Mark of Esteem (1996), Dubai Millennium (1999), Summoner (2001), Ramonti (2007), Poet's Voice (2010)

Winners since 1955

Year	Winner	Age	Jockey	Trainer	Owner	Time
1955	Hafiz II	3	Roger Poincelet	Alec Head	Aga Khan III	1:48.39
1956	Cigalon	3	Serge Boullenger	Maurice d'Okhuysen	Comte L de Kerouara	1:49.82
1957	Midget II	4	Scobie Breasley	Alec Head	Pierre Wertheimer	1:47.52
1958	Major Portion	3	Eph Smith	Ted Leader	Jim Joel	1:48.76
1959	Rosalba	3	Joe Mercer	Jack Colling	John Astor	1:41.39
1960	Sovereign Path	4	Harry Carr	R Mason	R Mason	1:44.20
1961	Le Levanstell	4	Bill Williamson	Seamus McGrath	J McGrath	1:42.73
1962	Romulus	3	Wally Swinburn	Fulke Johnson Houghton	Charles Engelhard	1:49.15
1963	Creditor	3	Lester Piggott	Noel Murless	Lady Sassoon	1:42.80
1964	Linacre	4	Lester Piggott	Paddy Prendergast	F More O'Ferrall	1:47.15
1965	Derring-Do	4	Scobie Breasley	Arthur Budgett	Mrs H H Renshaw	1:53.17
1966	Hill Rise	5	Lester Piggott	Noel Murless	G A Pope jnr.	1:42.51
1967	Reform	3	Scobie Breasley	Sir Gordon Richards	Sir Michael Sobell	1:47.03
1968	World Cup	3	Bill Williamson	Paddy Prendergast	J R Mullion	1:51.06
1969	Jimmy Reppin	4	Geoff Lewis	John Sutcliffe	Mrs Sidney Bates	1:41.75
1970	Welsh Pageant	4	Sandy Barclay	Noel Murless	Jim Joel	1:42.08
1971	Brigadier Gerard	3	Joe Mercer	Dick Hern	Jean Hislop	1:41.39
1972	Brigadier Gerard	4	Joe Mercer	Dick Hern	Jean Hislop	1:39.96
1973	Jan Ekels	4	Jimmy Lindley	Guy Harwood	Anthony Bodie	1:47.20
1974	no race
1975	Rose Bowl	3	Willie Carson	Fulke Johnson Houghton	Jane Engelhard	1:48.97
1976	Rose Bowl	4	Willie Carson	Fulke Johnson Houghton	Jane Engelhard	1:43.49
1977	Trusted	4	Willie Carson	John Dunlop	Duchess of Norfolk	1:41.40
1978	Homing	3	Willie Carson	Dick Hern	2nd Baron Rotherwick	1:40.39
1979	Kris	3	Joe Mercer	Henry Cecil	Lord Howard de Walden	1:40.69
1980	Known Fact	3	Willie Carson	Jeremy Tree	Khalid Abdullah	1:40.02
1981	To-Agori-Mou	3	Lester Piggott	Guy Harwood	Andry Muinos	1:46.76
1982	Buzzards Bay	4	Walter Swinburn	Hugh Collingridge	Vera McKinney	1:44.98
1983	Sackford	3	Greville Starkey	Guy Harwood	Anthony Bodie	1:39.90
1984	Teleprompter	4	Willie Carson	Bill Watts	18th Earl of Derby	1:42.96
1985	Shadeed	3	Walter Swinburn	Michael Stoute	Maktoum Al Maktoum	1:38.80
1986	Sure Blade	3	Brent Thomson	Barry Hills	Sheikh Mohammed	1:41.71
1987	Milligram	3	Pat Eddery	Michael Stoute	Helena Springfield Ltd	1:40.04
1988	Warning	3	Pat Eddery	Guy Harwood	Khalid Abdullah	1:40.51
1989	Zilzal	3	Walter Swinburn	Michael Stoute	Mana Al Maktoum	1:40.57
1990	Markofdistinction	4	Frankie Dettori	Luca Cumani	Gerald Leigh	1:39.70
1991	Selkirk	3	Ray Cochrane	Ian Balding	George Strawbridge	1:44.34
1992	Lahib	4	Willie Carson	John Dunlop	Hamdan Al Maktoum	1:44.50
1993	Bigstone	3	Pat Eddery	Élie Lellouche	Daniel Wildenstein	1:42.89
1994	Maroof	4	Richard Hills	Robert Armstrong	Hamdan Al Maktoum	1:42.75
1995	Bahri	3	Willie Carson	John Dunlop	Hamdan Al Maktoum	1:40.54
1996	Mark of Esteem	3	Frankie Dettori	Saeed bin Suroor	Godolphin	1:40.95
1997	Air Express	3	Olivier Peslier	Clive Brittain	Mohamed Obaida	1:40.90
1998	Desert Prince	3	Olivier Peslier	David Loder	Lucayan Stud	1:39.63
1999	Dubai Millennium	3	Frankie Dettori	Saeed bin Suroor	Godolphin	1:46.24
2000	Observatory	3	Kevin Darley	John Gosden	Khalid Abdullah	1:41.40
2001	Summoner	4	Richard Hills	Saeed bin Suroor	Godolphin	1:44.54
2002	Where Or When	3	Kevin Darley	Terry Mills	John Humphreys	1:41.37
2003	Falbrav	5	Darryll Holland	Luca Cumani	Rencati / Yoshida	1:38.99
2004	Rakti	5	Philip Robinson	Michael Jarvis	Gary Tanaka	1:39.82
2005	Starcraft	5	Christophe Lemaire	Luca Cumani	The Australian Syndicate	1:37.87
2006	George Washington	3	Michael Kinane	Aidan O'Brien	Magnier / Tabor / Smith	1:40.06
2007	Ramonti	5	Frankie Dettori	Saeed bin Suroor	Godolphin	1:42.45
2008	Raven's Pass	3	Jimmy Fortune	John Gosden	Princess Haya of Jordan	1:38.94
2009	Rip Van Winkle	3	Johnny Murtagh	Aidan O'Brien	Magnier / Tabor / Smith	1:38.82
2010	Poet's Voice	3	Frankie Dettori	Saeed bin Suroor	Godolphin	1:39.76
2011	Frankel	3	Tom Queally	Sir Henry Cecil	Khalid Abdullah	1:39.45
2012	Excelebration	4	Joseph O'Brien	Aidan O'Brien	Smith / Magnier / Tabor	1:42.33
2013	Olympic Glory	3	Richard Hughes	Richard Hannon Sr.	Sheikh Joaan al Thani	1:44.18
2014	Charm Spirit	3	Olivier Peslier	Freddy Head	Abdullah bin Khalifa Al Thani	1:46.28
2015	Solow	5	Maxime Guyon	Freddy Head	Wertheimer et Frère	1:41.92
2016	Minding	3	Ryan Moore	Aidan O'Brien	Magnier / Tabor / Smith	1:38.53
2017	Persuasive	4	Frankie Dettori	John Gosden	Cheveley Park Stud	1:46.13
2018	Roaring Lion	3	Oisin Murphy	John Gosden	Qatar Racing	1:42.48
2019	King of Change	3	Sean Levey	Richard Hannon Jr.	Ali Abdulla Saeed	1:44.88
2020	The Revenant	5	Pierre-Charles Boudot	Francis-Henri Graffard	Al Asayl France	1:45.13
2021	Baaeed	3	Jim Crowley	William Haggas	Shadwell Estate	1:42.57
2022	Bayside Boy	3	Tom Marquand	Roger Varian	Teme Valley & Ballylinch Stud	1:45.53
2023	Big Rock	3	Aurélien Lemaitre	Christopher Head	Yeguada Centurion SL	1:44.58
2024	Charyn	4	Silvestre De Sousa	Roger Varian	Nurlan Bizakov	1:45.98
2025	Cicero's Gift	5	Jason Watson	Charles Hills	Rosehill Racing	1:38.35

Earlier winners

Knights' Royal Stakes

1947: Tudor Minstrel
1948: Djelal
1949: Wat Tyler
1950: Hyperbole
1951: Leading Light
1952: Tudor Castle
1953: King of the Tudors
1954: Umberto

References

Paris-Turf:

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Racing Post:

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External links

Race Recordings (1978-2004) youtube.com
galopp-sieger.de – Queen Elizabeth II Stakes (ex Knights' Royal Stakes).
horseracingintfed.com – International Federation of Horseracing Authorities – Queen Elizabeth II Stakes (2018).
pedigreequery.com – Queen Elizabeth II Stakes – Ascot.