The year 2022 will be long remembered for the passing of Queen Elizabeth II. Her reign of over 70 years, from 1952 until 2022, meant that Queen Elizabeth II was head of state for longer than any other Monarch in British history.

The Queen leaves a legacy unsurpassed, amongst which are the horses that she bred and loved. Those horses have now taken on a very special role, and back in December 2020 we were privileged to buy a three-year-old filly at Tattersalls Sales consigned by The Royal Studs.

Quick Waltz was foaled in 2017, sired by the 2014 Epsom Derby winner Australia, and her dam Momentary was a winning Nayef filly owned and bred by The Queen. Like all of The Queen's horses she bore a distinguished name. The frivolous racehorse names that have crept into racing in recent years had no place in Her Majesty’s proud string of racehorses and broodmares. Quick Waltz, a half-sister to five winners of a total of 11 races, was trained by Sir Michael Stoute but after running once at Kempton Park in 2020 she was sent to the Tattersalls December Mares Sale. It was in the Sales ring at Newmarket that this magnificent filly caught our eye.

The hammer went down, the sales docket was signed and on 3rd December 2020 Lot 1816 arrived at New House Farm. She was soon given the stablename 'Sheila', on account of the name of her sire.

In April 2021 Quick Waltz made her stable debut, finishing down the field in a novice race at Redcar, and in June she ran her best race when finishing a close third of five at Thirsk. However, her next two runs were disappointing and in July we decided to retire the then four-year-old filly and give her a few months to relax and enjoy life before finding her a new career.

A lovely lady called Emily had contacted us earlier in the year looking for a nice strong horse who would stand at 16 hands or more, and as soon as Quick Waltz was ready we sent the details. It was now February 2022 and Quick Waltz was a strong, good-looking five-year-old mare. She was a perfect match for Emily's needs and in February 2022 she was loaded for the 250-mile journey south to Dorking.

The rest, as they say, is history and Quick Waltz settled in well at her new home and the retraining began.

Emily has tweaked the mare's name and she is now known as 'Stella', and in competent and skilled hands she has excelled beyond all expectations.

"I love her to bits", says Emily. "She’s a bit of a perfectionist … as soon as she knocks she will throw a strop and takes time to come back round, but when she’s on a roll she flies. We’re going to do a bit of everything with her. She loves her days out at the seaside too."

"The other day she encountered a burst water pipe … she didn't even blink an eye! She was as good as gold, she's unflappable."

Quick Waltz has truly thrived out of racing. She is now showing her jumping prowess and enjoying life away from the racecourse. And of course the memory of Queen Elizabeth will long live on in everything that this mare achieves.

We wish Emily and Quick Waltz all the very best for the future and we’ll keep in touch and follow her career, as we do with all of our former friends. There’s nothing to brighten up a morning more than to open the mailbox and see pictures and videos of our ex-racehorses happy and content and enjoying their lives.