Horse racing is the second largest spectator sport in Great Britain, and one of the longest established, with a history dating back many centuries. According to a report by the British Horseracing Authority it generates £3.39 billion total direct and indirect expenditure in the British economy, of which £1.05 billion is from core racing industry expenditure, and the major horse racing events such as Royal Ascot and Cheltenham Festival are important dates in the British and international sporting and society calendar.
Lanfranco "Frankie" Dettori, is an Italian jockey who was based in England for a career spanning over 35 years. He was British flat racing Champion Jockey three times and rode the winners of 287 Group 1 races including 23 winners of the British Classic Races. His most celebrated achievement was riding all seven winners on British Festival of Racing Day at Ascot Racecourse on 28 September 1996.
Godolphin is the Maktoum family's private Thoroughbred horseracing stable and was named in honour of the Godolphin Arabian, who came from the desert to become one of the three founding stallions of the modern Thoroughbred. Godolphin is buried at Wandlebury Park in Cambridge, where there is a stone to commemorate this horse in the passageway of the old buildings.
Hyperion was a British-bred Thoroughbred racehorse, a dual classic winner, an outstanding sire, and considered to be one of the most important Thoroughbreds of the 20th century.
Ardross was an Irish-bred Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. Racing at age three, he got his first significant win in the Gallinule Stakes at the Curragh. He also lost by a head to Akiyda in the 1982 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, the final race of his career. Ardross first raced for Ireland's Paddy Prendergast and, after his death, was bought by Charles St. George and trained by Henry Cecil in England, winning fourteen of his twenty-four starts, thirteen of them coming at Pattern level. He twice won the Ascot Gold Cup and the Yorkshire Cup. His other major successes came in the Prix Royal-Oak, the Doncaster Cup, and the Goodwood Cup. Before moving to Newmarket, he was runner-up to the Henry Cecil-trained Le Moss in the Ascot Gold Cup.
Sceptre (1899–1926) was a British-bred and British-trained Thoroughbred racemare whose career ran from 1901 to 1904. In 1902, she became the only racehorse to win four British Classic Races outright.
Raven's Pass is an American-bred, British-trained Thoroughbred racehorse most notable for being the first English-trained winner of the Grade I Breeders' Cup Classic at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California.
William Buick is a Norwegian-born British flat jockey. He shared the champion apprentice jockey title in 2008 with David Probert and won the Lester Award for Apprentice Jockey of the Year in 2007 and 2008. From 2010 to 2014 he was stable jockey to John Gosden. In 2015 he signed with Godolphin. Buick won his first Group 1 race in Canada in 2010 and since then has won Group 1 races in England, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, the United Arab Emirates and the United States. He has won five British Classic Races: the St Leger in 2010, 2011 and 2021, the Derby in 2018 and the 2000 Guineas in 2024. He was British flat racing Champion Jockey in 2022 and 2023.
Makfi is a British-bred, French-trained Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. In 2010 he won the 2000 Guineas and Prix Jacques Le Marois.
Frankel is a retired champion British Thoroughbred racehorse and current sire. He was unbeaten in his fourteen-race career and was the highest-rated racehorse in the world from May 2011. He was trained by Henry Cecil in Newmarket and ridden in all his races by Tom Queally.
Cremorne (1869–1883) was British Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. In a career that lasted from 1871 to 1873 he ran twenty-five times and won nineteen races. He was one of the leading British two-year-olds of 1870, when he won nine of his eleven starts. In the summer of 1872 he became the second of six horses to win both The Derby and the Grand Prix de Paris. At the end of the 1873 season, in which he won the Ascot Gold Cup, he was retired to stud, where he was moderately successful. He died in 1881. Cremorne was regarded by contemporary authorities as one of the best horses of his era in England.
Ghanaati is an American-bred, British-trained Thoroughbred racehorse. In a racing career which lasted from September 2008 and October 2009 she ran six times and won three races. After winning one minor race as a two-year-old she won the Classic 1000 Guineas at Newmarket Racecourse on her first appearance in 2009. She then won the Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot and was placed in both the Sussex Stakes at Goodwood and the Sun Chariot Stakes at Newmarket before being retired at the end of the season.
Black Tarquin (1945–1965) was an American-bred, British-trained racehorse and sire, best known for winning the St. Leger Stakes in 1948 and for his rivalry with Alycidon. In a career which lasted from June 1947 until July 1949, he ran fifteen times and won eight races. He was one of the leading two-year-olds of 1947, although he did not race after winning the Gimcrack Stakes in August. He was slow to reach peak fitness in 1948, and was unplaced in The Derby, but showed his best form in autumn when he beat a strong field in the St. Leger Stakes. His form continued into the following spring, but his career was effectively ended by his defeat in the Ascot Gold Cup. The victories of Black Tarquin led to a change in the way in which the Thoroughbred was defined in Britain.
Kingman is a champion British Thoroughbred racehorse who was the 2014 European Horse of the Year after winning the Irish 2000 Guineas, St. James's Palace Stakes, Sussex Stakes, and Prix Jacques le Marois
James Doyle is a flat racing jockey. He is the son of former trainer Jacqueline Doyle. Since 2014, he has been one of the retained riders to Godolphin Racing in the UK, mainly riding horses trained by Charlie Appleby, but has announced he will ride for the Emir of Qatar's Wathnan Racing from the start of 2024.
Tehran (1941–1966) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and sire, who raced during World War II and was best known for winning the classic St Leger in 1944. After showing little ability as a two-year-old he improved in the following spring to win the Culford Stakes on his three-year-old debut. He ran third in the 2000 Guineas and was narrowly beaten into second place in the Derby Stakes. After winning the Whepstead Stakes he recorded his biggest win when defeating a strong field in a substitute St Leger. He won his first three races in 1945 and finished second in the Ascot Gold Cup. He later became a successful breeding stallion, siring several major winners including Tulyar.
Amazing Maria is an Irish-bred, British-trained Thoroughbred racehorse. She showed great promise as a two-year-old when winning the Prestige Stakes but failed to win or place in the following season when she made only three appearances. After a change of training stable she returned as a four-year-old ad reached her peak in the summer of 2015. She won the Duke of Cambridge Stakes at Royal Ascot and then recorded Group One victories in the Falmouth Stakes and the Prix Rothschild. She remained in training in 2016 but failed to win in five races and was retired at the end of the season.
Big Orange is a British Thoroughbred racehorse. After failing to win a two-year-old he made good progress in 2014, winning three of his six races including the Chester Stakes and Noel Murless Stakes. He emerged a top class performer in the following year, winning the Princess of Wales's Stakes and the Goodwood Cup and took the same two races in 2016. In 2017 he won the Henry II Stakes and then recorded his biggest win in the Ascot Gold Cup.
Hollie Doyle is a British jockey who competes in flat racing. She set a new record for winners ridden in a British season by a female jockey in 2019. She came third in the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award 2020, and was also named The Sunday Times sportswoman of the year. In June 2022 she became the first female jockey to win a French Classic and the first female jockey to win a European Group 1 Classic when she rode Nashwa to victory in the Prix de Diane at Chantilly. In 2022, she came joint second in the Flat Jockeys' Championship, the highest result for a woman to date.
Hamad, from a family of racehorse trainers, has been an all-round horseman since childhood and participated in showjumping in his youth. He began training in Qatar in 2013 with just three horses, saddled his first winner the following year, and then went from strength to strength.
