The Queen Mary is a Group 2 race confined to two-year-old fillies over five furlongs at Royal Ascot. It currently opens proceedings on day 2 of the meeting.

The race has been won by numerous top-class fillies and several Classic winners. Notable past winners of the Queen Mary Stakes include Forest Flower (1986), Marling (1991), Attraction (2003), Rizeena (2013) and Campanelle (2020).

Find out more about the Queen Mary Stakes:

Contents

1 Race Overview – The Queen Mary Stakes
2 Queen Mary Stakes Previous Winners
3 Famous Queen Mary Stakes Winners
4 Key Queen Mary Stakes Trials
5 Queen Mary Stakes Betting Trends
6 Queen Mary Stakes – Top Trainers and Jockeys
7 Betting on the Queen Mary Stakes
8 Popular Questions
- 8.1 What distance is the Queen Mary Stakes?
- 8.2 Where is the Queen Mary Stakes held?
9 Summary of Queen Mary Stakes
10 2026 Royal Ascot Festival Posts

Race Overview – The Queen Mary Stakes

The Queen Mary Stakes is a Group 2 flat horse race for two-year-old fillies in the United Kingdom. Every year in June, it is held at Ascot over a distance of 5 furlongs as part of the Royal Festival.

Check out our guides to all the other Group 2 horse races.

Queen Mary Stakes Previous Winners

Year	Winner	Jockey	Trainer
2013	Rizeena	James Doyle	Clive Brittain
2014	Anthem Alexander	Pat Smullen	Edward Lynam
2015	Acapulco	Ryan Moore	Wesley Ward
2016	Lady Aurelia	Frankie Dettori	Wesley Ward
2017	Heartache	Adam Kirby	Clive Cox
2018	Signora Cabello	Oisin Murphy	John Quinn
2019	Raffle Prize	Frankie Dettori	Mark Johnston
2020	Campanelle	Frankie Dettori	Wesley Ward
2021	Quick Suzy	Gary Carroll	Gavin Cromwell
2022	Dramatised	Daniel Tudhope	Karl Burke
2023	Crimson Advocate	John R. Velazquez	George Weaver
2024	Leovanni	James Doyle	Karl Burke
2025	True Love	Ryan Moore	Aidan O’Brien

Famous Queen Mary Stakes Winners

The Queen Mary Stakes was first run in 1921, with victory going to Wild Mint. The race was classed at the Group 3 level in 1971 and promoted to the Group 2 level in 2004.

1986 winner Forest Flower was trained by Ian Balding and ridden by Pat Eddery. Racing in the famous Mill Reef colours of owner Paul Mellon, she gained her biggest career win in the Irish 1000 Guineas the following season. Dead Certain won the race for David Elsworth and Steve Cauthen in 1989 and later added the Lowther Stakes at York and the Cheveley Park Stakes at Newmarket.

Marling was a brilliant winner for Geoff Wragg in 1991. She would also go on to Classic race success as a three-year-old, taking the Irish 1000 Guineas at the Curragh. She then won the Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot and the Sussex Stakes at Goodwood.

Lyric Fantasy (1992) earned the nickname “The Pocket Rocket”, owing to her small size and incredible speed. She easily won the Newbury Super Sprint and was named European Champion two-year-old filly. She gained her biggest career success in the Nunthorpe Stakes, the first juvenile to win an all-aged Group 1 since Sigy in 1978.

Attraction won the Queen Mary Stakes in 2003 and followed up impressively in the Cherry Hinton Stakes before she suffered an injury that kept her out of the Autumn Group 1 races. She reappeared in the 1000 Guineas at Newmarket, where she beat Sundrop by half a length. Attraction then became the first 1000 Guineas winner to follow up in the Irish 1000 Guineas, extending her unbeaten run to eight in the Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot.

2013 winner Rizeena was trained by Clive Brittain and ridden by James Doyle. She won the Moyglare Stud Stakes and finished second in the Fillies’ Mile. After finishing seventh in the 1000 Guineas and being withdrawn from the Irish 1000 Guineas, Rizeena bounced back to win the Coronation Stakes.

Key Queen Mary Stakes Trials

Recent winners of the Queen Mary Stakes have come from a wide variety of races in Great Britain, Ireland and America.

Ten of the last twelve winners had won their last outing before Royal Ascot.

Fancied British runners have usually won at Newmarket, Chester or Sandown, but it is difficult to pinpoint any particular trials.

Three of the twelve winners ran in the Prix Morny at Deauville next time out.

Wesley Ward’s Lady Aurelia (2016) and Campanelle (2020) both won that race.

Three ran in the Lowther Stakes at York with only Best Terms (2011) being successful.

Seven of the last twelve Queen Mary winners ran in the Group 1 Cheveley Park at Newmarket, but none of them managed to win.

Queen Mary Stakes Betting Trends

The Queen Mary has produced a mixture of results.

There have been four successful favourites in the past twelve seasons: Maqaasid (2010), Anthem Alexander (2014), Acapulco (2015) and Lady Aurelia (2016). There have also been four other winners from the top three in the betting during that period.

The longest-priced recent winner was 25-1 shot Signora Cabello in 2018, trained by John Quinn and ridden by Oisin Murphy. Ceiling Kitty (2012) returned at 20-1 and Raffle Prize was just two points shorter when winning in 2019.

Eight of the last twelve winners were drawn in stall 12 or higher. However, Maqaasid (2010) and Campanelle (2020) managed to win from stall 1.

The same number had recorded at least one victory over five furlongs, and all but one were already winners.

Queen Mary Stakes – Top Trainers and Jockeys

The leading trainer in the history of the Queen Mary Stakes is Fred Darling, who won it seven times between 1924 and 1946.

In more recent times, American Wesley Ward has been the trainer to follow with four victories: Jealous Again (2009), Acapulco (2015), Lady Aurelia (2016) and Campanelle (2020).

Aidan O’Brien is yet to win the Queen Mary Stakes after eleven attempts.

The all-time leading jockey in the race remains Sir Gordon Richards with five winners between 1932 and 1946.

Frankie Dettori moved to within one of his total when scoring on Campanelle. His previous three winners were Bint Allayl (1998), Lady Aurelia (2016) and Raffle Prize (2019).

Betting on the Queen Mary Stakes

The Queen Mary Stakes is one of the first top races of the season for two-year-old fillies.

Although the race can still produce a potential Classic contender, the trend has definitely been towards raw speed in recent years, particularly since Wesley Ward started harvesting the event. His American raiders must always be treated with respect and it is interesting that the race has so far eluded Aidan O’Brien.