The Queen Anne Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to horses aged four years or older. It is run at Ascot over a distance of 1 mile, and is scheduled to take place each year in June.
The Prince of Wales's Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to horses aged four years or older. It is run at Ascot over a distance of 1 mile 1 furlong and 212 yards, and it is scheduled to take place each year in June.
The Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to horses aged four years or older. Three-year-olds foaled in the Southern Hemisphere are also eligible. It is run at Ascot over a distance of 6 furlongs, and it is scheduled to take place each year in June.
The July Cup is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to horses aged three years or older. It is run on the July Course at Newmarket over a distance of 6 furlongs, and it is scheduled to take place each year in July.
The Challenge Stakes is a Group 2 flat horse race in Great Britain open to horses aged three years or older. It is run on the Rowley Mile at Newmarket over a distance of 7 furlongs, and it is scheduled to take place each year in October.
Michael Vincent O'Brien was an Irish race horse trainer from Churchtown, County Cork, Ireland. In 2003 he was voted the greatest influence in horse racing history in a worldwide poll hosted by the Racing Post. In earlier Racing Post polls he was voted the best ever trainer of national hunt and of flat racehorses. He trained six horses to win the Epsom Derby, won three Grand Nationals in succession and trained the only British Triple Crown winner, Nijinsky, since the Second World War. He was twice British champion trainer in flat racing and also twice in national hunt racing; the only trainer in history to have been champion under both rules. Aidan O'Brien took over the Ballydoyle stables after his retirement.
The Coventry Stakes is a Group 2 flat horse race in Great Britain open to two-year-old horses. It is run at Ascot over a distance of 6 furlongs, and it is scheduled to take place each year in June.
The Norfolk Stakes is a Group 2 flat horse race in Great Britain open to two-year-old horses. It is run at Ascot over a distance of 5 furlongs, and it is scheduled to take place each year in June.
The Cornwallis Stakes is a Group 3 flat horse race in Great Britain open to two-year-old horses. It is run at Newmarket over a distance of 5 furlongs, and it is scheduled to take place each year in October.
The Ballyogan Stakes is a Group 3 flat horse race in Ireland open to thoroughbred fillies and mares aged three years or older. It is run at The Curragh over a distance of 6 furlongs, and it is scheduled to take place each year in June.
The British Champions Sprint Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to horses aged three years or older. It is run at Ascot over a distance of 6 furlongs, and it is scheduled to take place each year in October.
Diadem (1914–1931) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse who won the 1000 Guineas in 1917. She went on to become a top sprinter, recording two victories in both the King's Stand Stakes and the July Cup. In total she won 24 of her 39 races. Diadem was bred and owned by Edgar Vincent, 1st Viscount D'Abernon, and trained by George Lambton. The Diadem Stakes at Ascot Racecourse was named after her.
Cawston's Pride was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and broodmare. In 1970, she was unbeaten in eight races including the Queen Mary Stakes, Molecomb Stakes, Lowther Stakes and Cornwallis Stakes and was recognised as the outstanding juvenile filly of her generation. After winning Britain's first ever Group race, the Ascot 1000 Guineas Trial, on her debut as a three-year-old she developed temperament problems and was beaten when favourite for the 1000 Guineas. She refused to race on her only subsequent appearance and was retired to stud. She made an exceptional start as a broodmare, producing four stakes winners including the champion sprinter Solinus from four foals before dying at the age of eight in 1976. Cawston's Pride has been retrospectively rated the best two-year-old filly trained in Britain in the second half of the 20th century.
Sing Sing was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. He was the leading British two-year-old of 1959, when he was unbeaten in six races including the National Breeders' Produce Stakes and the Cornwallis Stakes. As a three-year-old he failed to win in three races, being narrowly beaten in the King's Stand Stakes and the King George Stakes. He was then retired to stud where he had considerable success as a sire of sprinters. He died in 1972.
Solinus was a British-bred, Irish-trained Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. A specialist sprinter, he won eight races over five and six furlongs in a ten-race career which lasted from June 1977 until October 1978. Solinus was a long horse, bay coloured with white socks on his hind feet. As a two-year-old, he won three of his four races, including the Coventry Stakes in England and the Anglesey Stakes in Ireland. In the following year, he was the dominant sprinter in Britain and Ireland, winning the Ballyogan Stakes, King's Stand Stakes, July Cup and William Hill Sprint Championship. He was then retired to stud but died in 1979.
Double Form was an Irish-bred British Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. A specialist sprinter, he showed promise as a two-year-old in 1977, and improved to become a high-class performer in 1978. He won only one race as a three-year-old but was placed in several major sprints. In 1979 he improved again to become the highest-rated sprinter in the United Kingdom, winning the Temple Stakes, King's Stand Stakes and Haydock Sprint Cup in England and the Prix de l'Abbaye in France. He was the first horse to win both the King's Stand Stakes and the Prix de l'Abbaye. He was retired to stud where he was an immediate success but died on 22 April 1983.
Godswalk was an American-bred, Irish-trained Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. A specialist sprinter, he won eight of his eleven races in a racing career which lasted from the spring of 1976 until September 1977. As a two-year-old he won five of his seven races including the Norfolk Stakes and was rated the best colt of his generation in Ireland. In the following year he established himself as one of the best sprinters in Europe, winning three of his four races including the Ballyogan Stakes in Ireland and the King's Stand Stakes in England. After his retirement from racing, Godswalk had some success as a sire of winners in Europe and Australia.
Gentilhombre was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. As a two-year-old he won four races and finished third in the Group Two Laurent Perrier Champagne Stakes. In the following year he was mainly campaigned at sprint distances and established himself as one of the fastest three-year-olds in Europe with wins in the Cork and Orrery Stakes and Prix de l'Abbaye. He was even better as a four-year-old, when he was rated the best sprinter in Europe after winning the July Cup, the Diadem Stakes and a second Prix de l'Abbaye. After two unsuccessful runs in 1978 he was retired from racing having won nine of his twenty-four races. He stood as a breeding stallion in Europe and Japan but had limited success as a sire of winners.
Saritamer was a Kentucky-bred, Irish-trained Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. As a two-year-old he was rated the third-best two-year-old in Ireland after winning the Anglesey Stakes and the Beresford Stakes. In the following year he became a specialised sprinter, excelling over six furlongs and winning the Greenlands Stakes, Cork and Orrery Stakes, July Cup and Diadem Stakes. He was named best sprinter of 1974 by Timeform. He later sired the middle-distance champion Time Charter, but was otherwise a complete failure at stud.
Devon Ditty was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and broodmare. In a racing career which lasted from April 1978 until August 1980, she won eleven of her twenty-four races, finished second three times and third on four occasions. As a two-year-old she won two minor races from her first four starts but then emerged as arguably the best British filly with five consecutive wins in the Cherry Hinton Stakes, Princess Margaret Stakes, Lowther Stakes, Flying Childers Stakes and Cheveley Park Stakes. At three she was mainly campaigned over sprint races: she won the Gus Demmy Stakes at Haydock Park and was placed in the Nell Gwyn Stakes, King George Stakes, Goldene Peitsche and Haydock Sprint Cup. In the following year she raced in California where she won three times from seven races. She later had some success as a broodmare, producing several minor winners.
