Horse Racing: ALL THE QUEEN'S HORSES: Carson's Classic pick to mark Golden Jubilee; Willie Dun 'em despite crash.
Byline: GARRY OWEN (Gordon Brown)PUNTERS have cashed in on more than 600 winners in the Royal colours over the last 50 years.
And as the Queen prepares to celebrate her Golden Jubilee, we look back at the best of them that sparked wild celebrations north of the border.
Popular as Aureole, Carrozza, Hopeful Venture and Highclere were, none captured the imagination of the betting public and normal folk alike more than the exploits of Her Majesty's filly Dunfermline - a dual Classic winner in her Silver Jubilee year in 1977.
And backers north of the border had more than one reason to gamble the horse named after the Fife town as she was also ridden by one of our favourite sons - Stirling's Willie Carson.
So when Dunfermline romped home at 6-1 in the June Oaks, and then added September's St Leger for good measure as a 10-1 shot, she helped fund the refreshments for many of the street parties up and down the country.
Carson, former stable jockey to the filly's trainer, Major Dick Hern, was one of many to have ridden for the Queen as well as Lester Piggott, Harry Carr, Doug Smith, Frankie Dettori and Joe Mercer but he told me: "I would think I rode more winners for her than anyone else although Harry Carr was also very successful.
"Wearing the Royal colours was a great honour. When you pulled the silks on you somehow felt that bit bigger, more special and more important."
Unfortunately, like millions of others, the Queen had to settle for watching both Classics on television. She was busy with Jubilee business at Windsor on Oaks day and was entertaining Prime Minister James Callaghan and his wife at Balmoral when the St Leger was staged.
And Carson so nearly didn't make his date with destiny at Epsom that year either. Shortly after leaving his Berkshire home for the famous Downs, his gleaming black Ferrari was involved in a head-on collision and he had to get behind the wheel of a new VW Golf which he hadn't even taken for a spin.
Having been informed of Carson's dilemma, Dunfermline's trainer Dick Hern put Joe Mercer - her jockey during her two-year-old campaign - on standby although his services weren't required in the end.
But Carson said: "It was still a close-run thing and I missed my ride in the first race. I hit an old beat up banger coming down a hill on a narrow country lane - I heard later the driver had no insurance and he must have had no brakes either!
"He slammed straight into me and we're stuck there on this single track road glaring at each other with just two panes of glass between us when I should be on my way to ride in a Classic at Epsom.
"Luckily I wasn't far from home and I jumped into my Golf which had just been delivered."
Lester Piggott, having won the Derby three days earlier on The Minstrel, was going for a big-race double on leading Oaks fancy Durtal.
But the favourite panicked when her saddle slipped on the way to the start and Lester was lucky to escape serious injury after being 'hung-up' by his right stirrup iron.
Durtal ended up being withdrawn though Carson reckoned the Royal filly would have beaten the jolly anyway.
He said: "Dunfermline's strong suit was her stamina and I didn't think Durtal stayed a mile and a half properly. We actually didn't have the best of runs and just after half-way we hadn't many behind us so I began to panic a little.
"I pulled her out and gave her a couple of backhanders and she took off like a rocket. We were flying on the downhill run to Tattenham Corner and we must have passed six or seven horses."
Dunfermline flashed past the post three parts of a length ahead of Freeze The Secret partnered by Gianfranco Dettori, father of Frankie and a great mate of Carson.
And though the winning owner was absent, an overjoyed Queen Mother was present and Carson recalled: "She was like a young schoolgirl . I remember sitting next to her at a dinner once and she said: 'Oh Willie, we Celts, we stick together!'"
Dunfermline rubber-stamped her position as the the Queen's best horse of the last 50 years when beating subsequent Arc winner Alleged in a titanic battle for the St Leger with the pair well clear of anything else.
For the record, the 1974 1000 Guineas winner Highclere comes second on the Royal roll of honour with Coronation year Derby runner-up Aureole next.
However, Carson felt he was lucky to catch Piggott napping on Alleged in the world's oldest Classic and explained: "I think Lester was a little too confident that day. He probably went to the front too soon and I just followed him through."
But even after passing the post in front, Carson, Dunfermline's connections and millions of punters faced an agonising 20-minute delay for a stewards inquiry.
Carson added: "We did give Alleged a little nudge as we went past him and it was terrible waiting for the inquiry - I was trembling outside the weighing-room. For once Lester was kind to me as he didn't lodge an objection!"
Piggott and Alleged duly turned the tables on Dunfermline when winning the first of their back-to-back Arcs and this time it was Carson's turn to be out-foxed.
Carson said: "It went right for me at Donny but it went right for Lester at Longchamp. I got criticised for being shut on the rails - if the race was run again I wouldn't be on the inner that's for sure."
Carson also recalled winning the 1979 Ribblesdale Stakes in the Royal colours aboard Expansive and he said: "I think that was the last time that filly ever ran as she gave me a heavy fall on the gallops shortly afterwards. It was a lucky escape.
"Another winner I rode for the Queen was on a horse called St Boniface at Newmarket. I remember it so well as it was the same name of the church I got married in and I've still got the picture of us being led in here at home."
But Carson isn't the only Scot to have ridden winners for the Queen.
Sandy Barclay landed the 1968 Hardwicke Stakes on Noel Murless's Royal runner Hopeful Venture while, more recently, Ayr rookie Lee Newman won't forget in a hurry winning on National Park in a lowly Lingfield maiden last August.
It was Piggott who supplied the Queen with her first Classic success aboard Carrozza in the 1957 Oaks and Joe Mercer and the brilliant filly Highclere galloped home in the 1974 1000 Guineas.
However, Aureole's second to newly knighted Sir Gordon Richards on Pinza in 1953 remains the closest the Queen has come to winning our premier Classic.
But who knows what might happen in 2002 if smart Sir Michael Stoute-trained Right Approach justifies confidence that sees him a top-priced 25-1 shot for the Derby.
And what better occasion to show the nation what he can do than at Epsom on June 8 in Golden Jubilee year.
ROYAL FACTFILE
First winner: (NH) Monaveen, Fontwell 1949 and (Flat) Astrakhan, Hurst Park 1949 (Her own colours while Princess Elizabeth).
Total winners: 600 plus.
British Classic wins: Carrozza (1957 Oaks), Pall Mall (1958 2000 Guineas), Highclere (1974 1000 Guineas), Dunfermline (1977 Oaks, St Leger).
Other big wins: Aureole (1953 Hardwicke Stakes, 1954 Coronation Cup), Almeria (1957 Ribblesdale Stakes, Yorkshire Oaks, and Park Hill Stakes), Hopeful Venture (1968 Hardwicke Stakes), Magna Carta (1970 Ascot Stakes), Highclere (1974 French Oaks), Escorial (1974 Musidora Stakes),
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| Title Annotation: | Punter |
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| Publication: | Daily Record (Glasgow, Scotland) |
| Date: | Feb 9, 2002 |
| Words: | 1274 |
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