Queen Camilla visited Ascot Racecourse on Saturday to watch what would have been a quality afternoon of horse racing action.
However, the day was spoiled by the lack of horses actually in attendance at the racecourse, with only 33 competitors running across seven races.
It would have been particularly disappointing for Her Majesty that every single horse except one withdrew from the 12:55 race.
The 12:55 was the Ebony Horse Club Novices’ Limited Handicap Chase – the race The Queen Consort came to Ascot specifically to see.
Her Majesty has been President of the Ebony Horse Club for a number of years, and was due to choose the best turned out horse, and present the prize to the winner of the race.
However, all of the horses withdrew from the contest, with the exception of Milan Bridge, who was named the winner by default without actually racing.
As such, the one remaining horse simply had to register their presence with the racecourse judge to be declared the winner, and collect £16,400 in prize money without actually jumping a fence.
The other horses all withdrew from the race because of the ground conditions, with the turf not as soft as they would have appreciated.
Her Majesty The Queen Consort has a long-standing relationship with Ebony Horse Club:
In her role as The Duchess, she became President of the organisation in April 2009 and has been one of the charity’s greatest supporters.
Ebony Horse Club is a community riding centre in Brixton. The charity was founded in 1996 and the centre in Wyck Gardens opened in 2011.
Ebony Horse Club currently have 10 Horses, and serve over 150 riders per week.
Through access to horses, Ebony Horse Club seek to improve the lives of some of the areas’ most in need children and young people.
They use riding and horsemanship as tools to develop and improve key life skills such as problem solving, confidence building and empathy.
