King Charles and Queen Camilla arrive at rainy Epsom Racecourse in their raincoats to watch their 18/1 horse Treasure bred by the late Queen in £500,000 Oaks race

King Charles and Queen Camilla made a surprise appearance at Epsom Downs Racecourse today to watch a horse bred by Queen Elizabeth II in a £500,000 race.

The monarch and his wife prepared to cheer on Treasure in the Betfred Oaks at 4.30pm, rated eighth favourite by bookmakers at odds between 18/1 and 26/1.

They attended Epsom’s Ladies Day as fellow racegoers looked forward to seeing a royal runner bid for Classic glory after Treasure was declared for the Group 1 Oaks.

The prize money for today’s race totals £541,035 for the top six positions out of the 12 runners. A first prize of £311,905 will go to the winner – then £118,250 for second, £59,180 for third, £29,480 for fourth, £14,795 for fifth and £7,425 for sixth.

The owner normally receives about 75 per cent of a race’s prize money, while the remaining 25 per cent is generally split between the trainer (10 per cent), the jockey (10 per cent) and then the final 5 per cent to stable staff and racing charities.

The filly was bred by Elizabeth II and is a daughter of stallion Masterscraftsman and Shimmering Light, which was placed for the late monarch in two races in 2017.

Trainer Ralph Beckett said they ‘decided to have a go at the Oaks as the ground should be in her favour’, adding that he had been ‘very pleased with her progress’.

The handler also described Charles, 75, and Camilla, 76, as ‘such enthusiastic owners and it is great to be training such a nice filly for them who is running in a Classic’.

Elizabeth II landed five Classics in all, with Carrrozza her first Epsom Oaks heroine in 1957 before Dunfermline in 1977.

Dunfermline was the last to carry the royal colours to victory in a British Classic.

The horse won not only the Epsom Oaks but also the St Leger at Doncaster in what was Elizabeth II’s Silver Jubilee year.

Charles and Camilla enjoyed a memorable first Flat season last year, with Desert Hero winning at Royal Ascot before finishing third in the St Leger.

Treasure won on her racecourse debut at Nottingham in October last year before finishing fourth behind stablemate You Got To Me in the Lingfield Oaks Trial on her reappearance three weeks ago.

Mr Beckett was initially keen to wait until the Ribblesdale Stakes at Royal Ascot with Treasure.

But a subsequent change of heart means she will join You Got To Me and the first and third from the Cheshire Oaks, Forest Fairy and Seaward, to give him a formidable quartet as he goes in search of a third victory in the race.

‘We had been thinking Treasure was more a filly for Royal Ascot this time last week, but with the way the ground is now at Epsom, we decided to have a go at the Oaks as the ground should be in her favour,’ said the Kimpton Downs handler.

‘I have been very pleased with her progress since her reappearance at Lingfield. The King and Queen are such enthusiastic owners and it is great to be training such a nice filly for them who is running in a Classic.’ 

Mr Beckett added: ‘It will be very exciting to have a runner in a Classic for the King and the Queen.’

John Warren, racing adviser for Charles and Camilla, is excited by the prospect of seeing the famous colours on show in the Oaks once more.

On the reasoning behind the decision to run at Epsom, he told Nick Luck’s Daily Podcast: ‘I think it was the piece of work she did on Saturday.

‘Ralph had never discounted her completely out of the Oaks because luckily there is a decent gap between the Oaks and the Ribblesdale this year.

‘It’s three weeks or 20 days or whatever, so the plan was in principle to go there (Royal Ascot), but with Ralph having such a good form line with the lovely fillies that he has in his yard at the moment, he was sort of getting the impression that she was just becoming a late burn as it were.

‘She’s a big, rangy filly, who did well as a two-year-old to win on her only start in very deep ground. She didn’t do it overly impressively, but did win well enough.

‘This spring she has developed into a pretty imposing, impressive, physical. And as she started to mature in the spring, Ralph started talking about Oaks trials rather than novices or what have you so she’s progressed really well.

‘She’s unexposed and is one we are very much looking forward to and in particular on that little piece of work she did. It was only over six furlongs, so what can you say in real terms? But she worked impressively enough on Saturday, so Ralph thought with three weeks before the Ribblesdale, why not give it a go?’

Warren feels underfoot conditions will suit Treasure, who will be ridden by James Doyle, but admitted to having doubts about whether her stamina will stand up to the test of the mile and a half.

He added: ‘I think we’ve been looking forward to watching the weather forecast very closely because she won on heavy and her action would make you think that she will probably enjoy a bit of cut in the ground.

‘If you take the favourite (Ylang Ylang) out of it, who is very high-class, a lot of the remainder are not dissimilar to her in that they are young and unexposed horses who are just maturing and I guess there’s always hope when you see something.

‘She looked as if she was going to give them a good run for their money at Lingfield, but then just fell in a bit of a heap and I think she really needed that race.

‘We’re realistic to know that it’s an open race and she’s a 16-1 shot or whatever she is, but the biggest concern is whether she is a genuine stayer or not.

‘In the 14 family members that make up her immediate family, only two in the third generation, Darshaan and Dubawi’s dam, stayed a mile and a half at that level, so she’s not particularly bred to be a proper galloper over a mile and a half.

‘That was the only thing at Lingfield as when she looked busy she then just slightly tailed off a bit in the last 150 yards. Was it a matter of the complete fitness or was it a matter of not being a proper, genuine, staying mile-and-a-half filly?’