The Surprising Amount of Money Queen Elizabeth Makes From Her Racehorses
We thought about putting a headline of “Queen Elizabeth is a Racehorse Gambler,” but we knew that would sound like an article from The Onion. If you still think the idea is bogus the queen has made millions of dollars from the horse racing industry, you don’t know everything about her.
It turns out Queen Elizabeth has owned and bred her own racehorses for years and continues to make money off of them. This hobby must be in the Windsor blood because her mother did the same thing throughout the 20th century.
How much money the queen has earned from racing her horses hasn’t always been known. The real amount might surprise you, which could reluctantly inspire more horse gamblers in America.
When did Queen Elizabeth start moving into horse racing?
Those of you who ever want to see the queen letting her guard down would be smart to make an effort to see her at a British horse racing event. She reportedly nurtured her love of raising and racing horses over three decades ago.
Her interest in raising horses and horse racing seem to go back much further in time, but she didn’t race her own horses professionally until 1988.
No doubt it became addictive when she realized her horses could win her major pounds. All of that fortune the Windsors have wasn’t entirely handed on a silver platter. Now we know the queen made a small part of her money racing her “self”-bred horses.
The exact seven figure she’s earned undoubtedly surprises even her most ardent supporters from inside or outside her inner circle.
How much money has Queen Elizabeth made from horse racing?
We once reported the queen made $8 million dollars racing her horses over the last 31 years. In pounds equivalence, that’s £7,768,448.
Other sources claim it’s closer to $9 million in American money. Out of 2,830 races her 100 horses have run in, they’ve won 451 of them. Mathematically, this places her horses on a 16% winning track record as an impressive percentage.
How many racehorse gamblers here in America probably popped their eyeballs seeing these figures? We know horse racing still has a strong market in some American circles, especially when you include the Kentucky Derby and related races. However, horse race gambling has likely dropped off here compared to what it once was in a different era.
You could once find numerous celebrities who would often be seen at a horse track gambling away on their favorite horses. With more animal activism in celebrity culture, you arguably don’t see this as much today. Regardless, some notables today are still very much involved.
Gambling on horses likely keeps the queen feeling useful
Something worth pondering is the queen was probably looking for something in her life where she could earn money through her own labors. Being handed money without really earning it as a royal is perhaps more than a little psychologically damaging. Then again, her duties as queen haven’t been a bed of roses.
While perhaps she feels her work as queen makes up at least a quarter of her earnings, breeding horses and having them win races would give a much quicker feeling of satisfaction.
Plus, earning millions of pounds is nothing to complain about when you realize the queen isn’t really a billionaire.
Then you have the general excitement of a horse race, something she palpably feels if you’ve seen pics of her watching her horses run. Thanks to the fast pace of racing horses, you can see why she’s likely found it addictive. In a time when British protocol is still archaically methodical and tedious, horse racing undoubtedly continues to keep the queen mentally healthy.
