Peter Hastings-Bass

A special aspect of British racing is the existence of some spectacular country estates devoted solely to the purpose of breeding and training racehorses. For anyone with a love of the turf, names such as Kingsclere, Manton and Beckhampton have resonated down the years.  We owe a debt of gratitude to those who ensure that they continue in this modern era, with their swathes of land so attractive to developers and their historic buildings so expensive to maintain. Andrew Balding's base at Park House Stables has subsumed its village's name...

As the celebrations marking the Queen's Platinum Jubilee commence in Britain, we continue our three-part series reflecting on Her Majesty's longstanding commitment to the Turf, written by John Berry  Aureole, who had been bred by the Queen's father, was a wonderful standard-bearer at the outset of her reign. While her father had been alive, she and her mother had begun owning jumpers, jointly enjoying their first National Hunt success when the Peter Cazalet-trained Monaveen (racing in the same colours which Astrakhan bore at Hurst Park) had won over fences at...