Charles and Camilla's hopes of Royal Ascot winner dashed

Charles and Camilla watched the fast-paced race from the royal box and were glued to monitors, with the King animated in the closing stages of the mile-long sprint.
The King and Queen watch their horse being beaten in the Sandringham Stakes (James Manning/PA)
He bobbed on the spot as if willing on his jockey Warren Fentiman in the aptly named Sandringham Stakes but Purple Rainbow, who was not fancied by the bookies, did not challenge the front runners.
The couple looked up in the closing stages to watch the race as it came past the stands but Never Let Go crossed the line first and the King and his wife were left opened mouthed.
Charles and Camilla will have to wait another day to try to double their tally of Royal Ascot winners.
Charles and Camilla arrived at the racecourse in a carriage procession (Andrew Matthews/PA)
The late Queen was a passionate owner and breeder of thoroughbreds and had more than 20 Royal Ascot winners during her 70-year reign.
Charles and Camilla have taken on her stable of horses and enjoyed their first Royal Ascot winner in 2023 when their horse Desert Hero triumphed in the King George V Stakes.

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The Guardian

38 minutes ago

• The Guardian

Royal Ascot 2025: updates, previews, full results and more from day five's races

Update: Date: 2025-06-21T10:13:14.000Z Title: - Chesham Stakes (7f)', ' Content: Good morning. And after yesterday's sojourn to Ascot in my finery (of which more later) here's the run down of today's action and after ginving you the going and non-runner details I will start publishing Greg Wood's previews of all the races. 2.30pm - Chesham Stakes (7f)3.05pm - Hardwicke Stakes (1m 4f)3.40pm - Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes (6f)4.20pm - Jersey Stakes (7f)5.00pm - Wokingham Stakes (Heritage Handicap) (6f)5.35pm - Golden Gates Stakes (Handicap) (1m 2f)6.10pm - Queen Alexandra Stakes (2m 6f) Update: Date: 2025-06-21T10:07:16.000Z Title: Preamble Content: Welcome back to Ascot on the fifth bright, warm morning in a row at this year's Royal meeting, on a day when the biggest crowd of the week might just witness a moment of racing history in the afternoon's feature event, the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes (3.40pm). Japan has become one of global racing's powerhouses over the last quarter of a century, winning major races on all continents and often bringing plenty of travelling fans along for the ride. Their record at Royal Ascot, however, and in fact, at Ascot full stop, is a tale of woe, with the occasional near-miss along the way. Agnes World, the first Japanese-trained runner at the meeting, finished second, beaten just over a length, in what was then the Group Two King's Stand Stakes, when he was giving weight to his 22 rivals (and in his next race, won the Group One July Cup, the summer sprinting championship). One of his stable companions finished 22nd in the same race, and since then, only one of 10 runners from Japan has even reached the first five (Shahryar, in the 2022 Prince Of Wales's Stakes). In Noriyuki Hori's Satono Reve, though, the country has one of its strongest contenders for years, and riding legend Joao Moreira has flown in to take the reins. The six-year-old has form that puts him within a length or two of Ka Ying Rising, the top-rated sprinter in global racing, and has been given plenty of time to get used to his new surroundings having arrived in Newmarket in early May. I think he could be the horse to finally break Japan's duck here, and the market seems to agree as he has been backed from 9-2 to 5-2 favourite this morning. Inisherin, last year's winner of the Commonwealth Cup here, is next in on 9-2, and in a truly international field, two French-trained runners, Lazzat and Topgear, are next in at 5-1 and 6-1 respectively. The Jersey Stakes (4.20pm), for three-year-olds over seven furlongs, and the Hardwicke Stakes, over a mile-and-a-half and a race that has often been a stepping stone to the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes here in July, are the main supporting races on today's card, along with the ever-popular Wokingham Handicap at 5pm. The going remains good-to-firm all over after further watering last night, and temperatures are expected to climb towards 30C as the afternoon goes on, which should ensure that the track is bursting at the seams by the time the royal procession makes its way down the track just before 2pm. The attendance has been up on every day of the meeting so far – it was an 8% jump on Friday – and there is every chance the course will complete a full house today, for the second year in a row. John & Thady Gosden are tied at five apiece in the race to be top trainer, Oisin Murphy is just two wins behind Ryan Moore after taking the last race here on Friday and you can follow all the action and slings and arrows of outrageous fortune as the 2025 Royal meeting draws to a close right here on the Guardian's live blog.

Daily Mail​

39 minutes ago

• Daily Mail​

Money washes through Royal Ascot - a bottle of Whispering Angel costs £75 - but it still appeals to all... DOMINIC KING reveals the glitz and the glamour of the heaven for racegoers

In that special space reserved for the winners, another dream had just come true. A tough little filly called Cercene had just won The Coronation Stakes, one of Royal Ascot 's Championship races, and her connections were beside themselves. 'It's a lifetime's ambition to have a Group One winner,' said Joseph Murphy, a 70-year-old from Tipperary who has been training horses since 1977. 'This is 50 years of work – that's what it is. It's just a whole group of people together. This is heaven on earth.' Money could not have bought the feeling that washed over Murphy on Friday. Success at this meeting hits differently compared to any other time of year, as this is the place to be – and be seen. But money, though, is a theme that washes through the week. Racing finds itself in a tricky position at present, with a number of issues to address and problems to solve, but step into Ascot and you would wonder there are complaints about the sport. Ascot, you see, appeals to all. At one end of the spectrum, you have an influential owners such as Kia Joorabchian, the successful football agent, going head-to-head with the American financial whizz John Stewart at auction on Monday evening. The Goffs London Sale, staged in Kensington Gardens, kick starts Royal Ascot week, with high rollers from around the world coming in to buy horses that ready to run and hold entries at the meeting. Joorabchian and Stewart went head-to-head in dramatic fashion for Lot 10, a beautiful colt called Ghostwriter, with the former coming out on top. Ghostwriter will run for a first prize of £141,775 in Saturday's Hardwucke Stakes. He cost Joorabchian £2million. You don't need pockets that deep, however, to get the unbridled joy of an Ascot win. Havana Hurricane blew his rivals away in the Windsor Castle Stakes on Wednesday and had been bought for £9,000 by his trainer Eve Johnson Houghton. His bounty for winning was £62,381. This provides the best example of the spectrum that Royal Ascot takes in. It is for everyone and you can enjoy it, however much you want to pay. Of course it is possible to pay through the nose. Entry into the Queen Anne Enclosure is £110 and, on your way to it, you will walk past pop-up stalls from luxury watchmaker Longines and bespoke fashion designer LK Bennett. The outfits racegoers are wearing show that no expense has been spared, with gentlemen applying little luxurious flourishes to their Morning Suits by buying floral buttonholes from a trader on Ascot High Street. The charge is at your discretion but it was easy to see crisp £20 notes being tendered for the service. Yet it's not all bank-breaking stuff. One gentleman on X posted that his tie for the meeting, pink and purple to match his waistcoat, had cost £1.70 from a local charity shop. 'You have 300,000 people over five days; everyone from the King of England to someone who has saved all of their expendable income over the last few months,' said Ascot CEO Fliss Barnard during an interview with the Sunday Telegraph ahead of the meeting. 'There's an ecosystem of getting the product right, the pricing and how you're telling people about it.' There are soaring temperatures but punters have 16 hydrations stations Guinness costs £7.80 a pint, in line with what you would pay at Cheltenham, Aintree or Newmarket (courses that are owned by The Jockey Club); Whispering Angel, the rose wine that is enormously popular, will set you back £75 for a bottle, while a bottle of Moet & Chandon champagne is £100. All bars have been doing a roaring trade. Not that you have needed alcohol to combat the raging temperatures: there are 16 hydration stations around Ascot and free bottles of water have been given away at the end of the day to keep racegoers cool. The customer experience is key. Barnard, a 42-year-old mother-of-two who once worked with West Ham, makes the point about an ecosystem and she is right: you can bring a picnic into the centre of the course, open from Thursday to Saturday, and spend as much or as little as you want. A ticket to the Heath enclosure is £45 and when you compare that to other sporting events, it is impossible not to see the value. The quality of the sport, which is what it is all about, is relentlessly high, with superstars emerging from all angles. It costs Ascot £30million to stage the event but the return is exceptional, as between 70 and 80 per cent of their annual turnover is generated. The most recent financial figures saw Ascot turnover £110.9million, so it illustrates the importance. Another aspect to emphasise is that £200million loan that they took out in 2005 to build the stand that takes your breath away – one American visitor on Wednesday stood and looked at it from the parade ring for five minutes in awe – has been paid back. Study the figures long enough and it is enough to make you dizzy but one thing is true: the buzz it provides, the memories it creates is on another level. Murphy called 'heaven' – he wouldn't be alone in speaking that way.

Daily Mirror

an hour ago

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Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis' strange nickname for Camilla

Young royals - Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis - have a sweet nickname for their step-grandmother Queen Camilla, and it's not the first cheeky pet moniker to be adopted by the monarchy When the royals are within the comfort of their home, official titles are set aside. Each family member often has a special nickname, and Meghan Markle has even followed suit, affectionately calling her husband Prince Harry 'Haz' or 'H'. ‌ The late Queen was known intimately as Lilibet among family while Prince William charmingly dubbed her 'Gary' during his younger years due to difficulties pronouncing 'grandma'. ‌ The youngest royal brood including Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis too have their endearing names for the elders. They're privy to tales of 'Granny Diana' and adorably call King Charles 'Grandpa Wales'. The Daily Mail reports that this mirrors the name the young Queen Elizabeth gave her grandfather George V — 'Grandad England'. Yet, when referring to Queen Camilla, it seems the norm of 'grandma' or 'nanny' isn't used. Camilla, a proud grandmother to five plus the Cambridge children and Archie and Lilibet, Meghan and Harry's little ones, is known simply as 'Gaga'. During a warm exchange at the 2016 Royal Variety Performance, The Sun reports that Camilla informed Lady Gaga that her step-grandchildren affectionately called her 'GaGa'. And after young Prince George's arrival, the Duchess told the Daily Mail: "My own grandchildren call me GaGa. I don't know if it's because they think I am! It is funny but is still very sweet." Meanwhile, Prince George also had a charming pet name for his great-grandmother, the late Queen, affectionately referring to her as "Gan-Gan". Reflecting on family matters and the addition of Princess Charlotte in 2016, The Princess of Wales once shared: "It's very special having a new little girl...I feel very, very lucky that George has got a little sister. "The Queen was really thrilled that it was a little girl, and I think as soon as we came back here to Kensington she was one of our first visitors here. George is only two-and-a-half and he calls her 'Gan-Gan.' She always leaves a little gift or something in their room when we go and stay and that just shows her love for her family."