Charles ‘working on’ producing a contender for the Derby

The King has said he is working on producing a runner for one of the greatest spectacles in the racing calendar – the Derby.

Charles’s comment came when he and the Queen visited the Jockey Club Rooms in Newmarket, after touring the nearby National Stud.

There they met the stallion Stradivarius, the champion stayer who retired to take up breeding duties after accruing over £3million in prize-money across 20 victories, including three Gold Cups at Royal Ascot.

The couple went on a meet and greet with the public after more than 1,000 people flocked to the Suffolk town’s centre and the King, who is receiving ongoing cancer treatment, spoke about his health.

Lee Harman, 54, from Bury St Edmunds, said: “I asked him how he was, and he said he was feeling a lot better now and that it was ‘just one of those things’.”

After telling Charles about his own cancer issues, Mr Harman said: “He asked me how I was and I said ‘I’m all good’, I got the all clear from cancer last year.”

Thoroughbreds owned by the late Queen won four out of the five Flat racing classics – the 1,000 Guineas and 2,000 Guineas, the Oaks twice and the St Leger – with only the Derby eluding her.

Now it appears the King, who took on Elizabeth II’s stable of horses with his wife, is aiming to have a thoroughbred ready for the premier Classic, having had Desert Hero finish third in the 2023 running of the St Leger at Doncaster.

As he toured the Jockey Club Rooms, a retreat for members and the public, he chatted to his racing manager John Warren, Jockey Club staff and members, and some of the chairs of racecourses run by the club, which include Newmarket, Epsom, Aintree and Cheltenham.

Brian Finch, chairman of Epsom Downs Racecourse, said after speaking to the King: “We were talking about him getting a Derby runner and he said ‘we’re working on it’.

“Everybody is hoping the royal family will have a Derby winner soon.”