King Charles has revealed that winning the Melbourne Cup is the race he wants to win 'more than anything else', according to the mother of a royal trainer.
During Royal Ascot in June, trainer Ciaron Maher and his mother Eileen were invited to Windsor Castle for lunch with the King and Queen. They later joined the royal procession to the racecourse in a horse-drawn carriage.
King's conversation with Eileen Maher
Eileen Maher gave an interview to Australia's SENTrack & RSN's Giddy Up programme, sharing details of her conversation with King Charles.
“During the lunch he happened to tell me that the Queen asked him to continue the legacy that she had started of having horses trained in other countries,” she said. “She told him that it was a way of connecting with those communities and a way of keeping in touch. That is why Charles continued by giving Ciaron three horses to train.”
Maher trains two potential stayers owned by the King and Queen: Gilded Water and Aeolian.
Melbourne Cup ambition
Revealing more of her chat with the King, Eileen went on: “He told me that the race that he wants to win more than anything else is the Melbourne Cup, and if Ciaron could get one of those horses into the Melbourne Cup, he and Queen Camilla would definitely come out for the race.”
The King and Queen inherited the royal racehorse string from the late Queen Elizabeth II, who had a lifelong passion for horse racing. Despite questions over the future of the Royal Family's involvement in horse racing following Queen Elizabeth's death, the King and Queen have maintained the tradition with a smaller but effective string.
In 2023 they celebrated their first Royal Ascot winner together when Desert Hero won the King George V Stakes. When the horse contested the St Leger, they went to Doncaster to cheer him on.
