Royal Ascot: Queen's Vase

The Queen's Vase was established over a distance of 2 miles for 3-year-olds in 1838, and its original trophy was a gold vase donated by Queen Victoria valued at 200 sovereigns. The race was opened to older horses in 1840, and after the death of Queen Victoria its title was changed to the King's Vase in 1903, but it was renamed the Queen's Vase in 1960 in honour of Queen Elizabeth II. The present system of race grading was introduced in 1971, and for a period the Queen's Vase held Group 3 status. It was relegated to Listed class in 1986, and it was restricted to three-year-olds in 1987. It returned to Group 3 level in 1991 and was downgraded to Listed status again in 2014. However, in a move to recognise the importance of staying Flat races in the calendar the European Pattern Committee decided to upgrade the race to Group 2 status in 2017 while reducing its distance to 1 mile and 6 furlongs. The Queen's Vase is now contested on the second day of the five-day Royal Ascot meeting, and is one of three perpetual trophies at the meeting, along with the Gold Cup and Royal Hunt Cup, which can be kept permanently by the winning owners. The 2013 running was renamed the 'Queen's Vase in Memory of Sir Henry Cecil' in memory of Sir Henry Cecil who died on 11 June 2013. Sir Henry had, at that point, trained the winners of more races than anyone at the Royal meeting (75), including eight winners of the Queen's Vase.
Early history:- The inaugural running of the Queen's Gold Vase over 2 miles on the Swinley Course took place on Tuesday 12th June 1838 when the Lord Exeter owned Mecca (5/2 jt fav) defeated dead-heaters Morella (5/2 jt fav) and Seth (5/1).

QUEEN'S Vase 1995 Handicap 2 miles
Pos. Horse Jockey Trainer Owner
1 STELVIO Mick Kinane Sir Henry Cecil Sheikh Mohammed 7/4 fav
2 DOUBLE ECLIPSE Jason Weaver Mark Johnston The Middleham Partnership 11/2
3 PEDRAZA Willie Ryan Sir Henry Cecil Sheikh Mohammed 25/1
4 WOT-IF-WE John Carroll Terry Mills Mr Bob Merrick 33/1
5 GREAT CRUSADER Kevin Darley Charles Cyzer Mr R M Cyzer 25/1
6 GREY SHOT Ray Cochrane Ian Balding Mr Jeff Smith 16/1
7 ANCHOR CLEVER Pat Eddery Paul Kelleway Mr Oswaldo Pedroni 12/1
8 NASH TERRACE John Reid Roger Charlton Lord Weinstock 15/2
9 TENORIO Frankie Dettori David Loder Cuadra Africa 5/1
10 LORD JIM Willie Carson Gay Kelleway Mrs S Y Thomas 20/1
11 UNITED FORCE Brent Thomson Peter Chapple-Hyam Mr Robert Sangster 33/1
The Queen's Gold Vase took place on Wednesday 21st June 1995 and the winner, a bay horse by Shirley Heights out of Beveridge, won a first prize of £32,150 (equivalent to £63,000 in 2020). Over round 125%
Queen's Vase Group 2 1 mile 6 furlongs 1838
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