Logbook, day 6 – Death of Elizabeth II: Newmarket Hippodrome loses its ambassador

Blade of grass by blade of grass, the hippodrome gardeners trim and water the two kilometers of green track, in anticipation of the next race. Sophie Able, the director, supervises the cleaning of the huge bleachers. She can’t help but be a little nostalgic when the time comes to clean the blue plastic seats of the “royal square” where the Queen, a frequent visitor to the racecourse, sat, a big fan of horse racing. equestrian world.

“It’s the best place to watch the race,” she explains. “You can hear the thunder of the horses’ hooves coming in. The queen loved seeing them on the track, she was screaming, shaking, it was amazing to see.”

On the far left is the “royal square” dedicated to all royal visitors.
Nina Droff/Europe 1

“No one was so passionate about horse racing”

During her reign, Queen Elizabeth spent many afternoons in this seat, encouraging her horses. Two of them had even won the big Newmarket races in 1958 and 1974. More recently, she had inaugurated the new stands of the racecourse, when she last came, in 2000.

The Newmarket race track is 2km long and is known for its undulations which make it even harder to race.
Nina Droff/Europe 1

For Sophie Able, her death is a terrible loss for the horse center. “She was the greatest ambassador of our sport. No one was as passionate about horse racing as her. We will do everything to remember her here”

Beyond the races, the late sovereign took care of the breeding of her horses herself. Many of them were educated and trained in Newmarket. Joy, one of the breeders, sometimes came across him in the red brick stables. “She rode all the time and she was well respected as a breeder of thoroughbreds. We will miss her. I can’t believe she’s gone,” she says, her eyes filling with tears.

The hippodrome’s new glazed bleachers inaugurated by the Queen in 2000.
Nina Droff/Europe 1

Two minutes of silence

An official tribute will be paid to the Queen next Saturday for the season opener. Two minutes of silence will be observed before the start of the race, then a video of the Queen’s best moments at the racecourse will be shown. But the inhabitants of the city did not wait for the official tribute to meditate.

Among the flowers, some slipped riding prizes and horseshoes.
Nina Droff/Europe 1

Many have already come to place hundreds of bouquets of flowers in front of a statue of the queen accompanied by her horses, in tribute to her commitment to the city and to horse racing.