The Queen has moved a step closer to having a historic runner in the world's most prestigious Flat race on her 2022 Platinum Jubilee weekend.
Reach For The Moon, a horse from her breeding operation, galloped to an impressive victory in Saturday's Betway Solario Stakes at Sandown.
The colt is second favourite in the betting with bookmakers for next year's Cazoo Derby at Epsom, which will take place on June 4.
Earlier this year, Buckingham Palace confirmed The Queen would be in attendance to watch the 243rd running of the race – which had a total prize fund of £1.125m this year.
The Derby will form part of the official Platinum Jubilee weekend to celebrate her 70-year reign, the first British Monarch to reach such a milestone.
Earlier this summer, The Queen saw Reach For The Moon finish a close second at her favourite meeting, Royal Ascot.
A son of 2009 Derby hero Sea The Stars, the two-year-old has been given rave reviews by jockey Frankie Dettori.
"He has got a good size, a wonderful stride and he has got gears. He is a very exciting prospect," he said after yesterday's four-length triumph.
“I was a bit concerned about the slow pace at the beginning so I set him for home a long way out. Normally I wouldn’t do that but I didn’t want to sit and sprint as he is such a big horse. He went through the gears and put daylight between them and felt good on top.
“We feel like the more he is racing the better he is getting, so I suspect you will see him out a couple more times before the end of the season."
Trainer John Gosden, who has been joined by his son Thady on the stable's licence this year, last won the Derby in 2015 with Golden Horn.
Gosden senior said Reach For The Moon "showed a bit of class" justifying odds of just 2-5f in yesterday's Group 3 contest.
"He is very progressive and has done everything right," the Newmarket handler added.
"He has developed and strengthened.”
The Derby is the only Classic in the Flat racing calendar The Queen is yet to win.
Aureole was runner-up to Pinza in her Coronation year of 1953.
Over centuries, Derby winners have defined the next generation of thoroughbred racehorses.
Almost all of the breed today can be traced back to one – or several – Derby winners.
Phil White, who runs the Cazoo Derby Festival for Jockey Club Racecourses, revealed previously that planning for the big weekend had already begun.
“We are incredibly grateful for the support Her Majesty The Queen has given to the Derby over several decades," he said.
"To be afforded this opportunity to celebrate the contribution she has made to horse racing, to British life and the Commonwealth, is a real honour for all of us at The Jockey Club."
