Sandringham History: A tribute to a Queen

June, Chantilly

Prix de Sandringham

Group 2, 3-year-old fillies, 1,600m, €90,000

Created in 1966 (ex-Prix des Lilas)

Last winner: Miss Extra (f3, FRA by Masterstroke ex Kestria, by Keltos), owned by Alain Jathière & Meridian International, bred by Sophie Boulin Redouly, trained by Pia Brandt, ridden by Maxime Guyon.

Record-time (since 2000): 1’34’’5 by Obligate (2019).

The race is run in 2021 for the 55th time

The 2020 edition

Friday, June 19, 2020, Chantilly. - Favourite of the Prix de Sandringham (Gr2), a mile race for 3-year-old fillies, Miss Extra (Masterstroke) has brought to three the number of her consecutive wins this season. She had already won a handicap and a Listed race for owner Alain Jathière since he bought her at the end of the season last year, while the filly was still maiden.

Help up in rear, she was pushed along and kept going to beat a tenacious Golden Crown (Siyouni), who'd led the race alongside Porcelaine (Kodiac). Two lengths down, a group of fillies fought for the third place and finished in the same stride, Like a Charm (Charm Spirit) finally getting the best of them by a short neck, ahead of Ellerslie Lace (Siyouni), the unlucky Secret Time (Camacho) and Galova (Galiway ), always prominent.

Miss Extra ran four times last year and finished in the first four times every time but couldn't win, over distances from 6.5 to 8 miles, finishing well. She was bought privately after that and was sent to Pia Brandt. She won first time out in a handicap and confirmed over the mile in the Prix des Lilas (L).

She is out of Kestria (Keltos), who had changed ownership through a claimer and at stud gave Lucky Team (Namid), Listed-placed and winner of a handicap with a 97lbs rating at the end of last year.

After Miss Extra, she also gave a Montmartre filly now 2 and a Zelzal colt born in 2019.

History

During an official visit to France, Queen Elizabeth II of England spent two hours at Longchamp races on 18 May 1972, in the company of the chairman of French racing’s governing body, Marcel Boussac. To mark the occasion, a race for 3-year-old fillies over 1 mile, the Prix des Lilas, was rechristened the "Coupe de Sa Majesté la Reine Elizabeth". On the day, victory went to Arosa owned by Margrit Batthyany, to whom the Queen presented a cup. The following year, the race was held again, but this time under the name of the Prix de Sandringham – after the English sovereign’s private stud farm – and elevated to Group 3 status.

Originally, the Prix des Lilas was a trial event (run over 1 mile 2 furlongs at Longchamp) for the Prix de Diane. It was only in 1966 that its distance was shortened to 1 mile. Held in late May, the Prix des Lilas was thus able to serve as a consolation event for fillies that had taken part unsuccessfully in the Poule d'Essai. This aim was maintained by the Prix de Sandringham, which was transferred to Chantilly in 1977 and then brought back to Longchamp in 1978, before finally settling at Chantilly in 1979. Since 1989, it has been part of the Prix du Jockey Club day -apart from the 2020 edition, whose timing was affected by the Covid 19 scare- and, in 2001, was promoted to Group 2 status and Banks Hill was the winner.

Sandringham

Sandringham is the personal stud farm of Queen Elizabeth II. Located in Norfolk, it was set up in 1886 by her great-grandfather King Edward VII, at a time when he was still only Prince of Wales. His trainer John Porter then suggested that he purchase a 5-year-old, Perdita II, who had enjoyed little success on the racetrack, to use as a broodmare. Her owner David Falconer was asking 1,000 guineas for her (one guinea = twenty-one shillings). "You can buy her if you get her for 900 guineas," replied the Prince. Twenty years later, Edward, now King, declared to Porter: "By getting me to buy Perdita II, you’ve also given me a gift of a quarter of a million pounds." For in the intervening years, Perdita II’s produce had won a grand total of twenty-six races, accumulating winnings of £72,913. The three best known, Florizel II, Persimmon and Diamond Jubilee (all three sired by the renowned St Simon), brought in £150,000 through the sale of their offspring and Diamond Jubilee was sold for £30,000 and exported to Argentina as a 5-year-old, where he was a very successful sire.

Persimmon offered the stable the Derby and the St.Leger in 1897, while Diamond Jubilee did even better in 1900 by winning the 2,000 Guineas as well as those two races, a combination known as the Triple Crown. After he became King in 1901, Edward VII was victorious for a third time in the Derby in 1909 with Minoru, who was not a product of Sandringham but had been loaned to the stable by Colonel Hall-Walker (the future Lord Wavertree), who had bred him at his Tully Stud in Ireland.

King George V, Edward VII’s successor, bred one Classic winner at Sandringham, Scuttle (1,000 Guineas in 1928). His son, King George VI, emulated him with Hypericum (1,000 Guineas in 1946), as well as seeing his silks prevail in four other Classic events courtesy of Big Game (2,000 Guineas in 1942) and Sun Chariot (1,000 Guineas, Oaks and St Leger 1942), who was loaned to him by the National Stud, then based in Ireland. This was none other than the famous Tully Stud, of which the livestock (forty-three high-quality broodmares) had been given to the English nation in 1916 by Lord Wavertree. After the Second World War, the ownership of Tully Stud was transferred to the Irish government (it became the Irish National Stud), while the stallions and broodmares were installed at Gillingham Stud in Dorset and at West Grinstead in Sussex, under the banner of the English National Stud. Breeding continued until 1963 when the decision was made to create a larger national stud on new land close to Newmarket.

Having acceded to the throne in 1952, Queen Elizabeth immediately demonstrated her enthusiasm for horse racing and breeding, as the royal colours were prominent in the 1953 Derby with Aureole, born at Sandringham in 1950. Despite having to content himself with second place behind Pinza, Aureole distinguished himself as a 4-year-old in the Coronation Cup and King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes). Four other of Sandringham’s residents have carried the royal silks to victory in Group 1 races: Almeria (Yorkshire Oaks in 1957), Pall Mall (2,000 Guineas in 1958), Highclere (1,000 Guineas and Prix de Diane in 1974) and Dunfermline (Oaks and St Leger in 1977). Two more great winners, Carrozza and Hopeful Venture were not bred at Sandringham but loaned to the Queen by the National Stud.
 

Owners

• Mohammed Al Maktoum / Darley (5 wins): Golden Opinion (1989), Marble Maiden (1992), Sensation (1996), Maiden Tower (2003), Fintry (2014).
• Khalid Abdullah (4 wins): Orford Ness (1997), Banks Hill (2001), Modern Look (2008), Obligate (2019).
• Aga Khan (3 wins): Parannda (1982), Kozana (1985), Zarkiya (2000).
• Robert Sangster (3 wins): River Dane (1977), Only Star (1986).
• Richard-C. Strauss (3 wins): Once in my Life (1991), Immortal Verse (2011).
• Wertheimer & Frère (3 wins): Spring Star (2002), Impressionnante (2006), Impassable (2015).
• Dario Hinojosa (2 wins): Pharatta (1998), Ronda (1999).
• Hamdan Al Maktoum (2 wins): Baqah (2004), Joanna (2010).
   

Trainers

• André Fabre (9 wins): Fitzwilliam Place (1987), Action Française (1988), Golden Opinion (1989), Marble Maiden (1992), Ski Paradise (1993), Lunafairy (1994), Smolensk (1995), Banks Hill (2001), Fintry (2014).
• Carlos Laffon-Parias (5 wins): Pharatta (1998), Ronda (1999), Spring Star (2002), Impressionnante (2006), Impassable (2015).
• François Mathet (3 wins): Ancyre (1967), India Song (1980), Parranda (1982).
• Jean-Claude Rouget (3 wins): Homebound (2009), Joanna (2010), Peace Burg (2013), Mission Impassible (2018).
   

Riders

• Freddy Head (3 wins): Opalia (1971), India Song (1980), Alik (1981)
• Cash Asmussen (3 wins): Action Française (1988), Golden Opinion (1989), Once In My Life (1991)
• Thierry Jarnet (3 wins): Ski Paradise (1993), Lunafairy (1994), Smolensk (1995)
• Olivier Peslier (3 wins): Banks Hill (2001), Impressionnante (2006), Immortal Verse (2011)
• Christophe Soumillon (3 wins): Spring Star (2002), Joanna (2010), Peace Burg (2013).
• Maxime Guyon (3 wins): Fintry (2014), Impassable (2015), Miss Extra (2020).