Hats off as royal winner raises Ascot roof Peter Phillips, the Queen's grandson, said: "It's been amazing, this is her passion, this is her life, every year she is here, every year she strives to have winners and to win the big one at Royal Ascot means so much to her and so much to her supporters. It's the culmination of a lot of investing in sport and to see this result is just brilliant. Sheikh Mohammed came down to congratulate her - racing people understand that these things don't happen every day and to have a win like this is truly, truly special. Mr Phillips, whose mother, the Princess Royal, accompanied the Queen to the winner's enclosure, said no-one had discussed the issue of who would present the trophy if the Queen won, as it might have brought bad luck. "It definitely wasn't discussed beforehand," he said. There were a number of conversations going around about who would do it. A royal aide said the monarch was "thrilled to bits," adding: "Royal Ascot is the highlight of her calendar and to win this race is the cherry on the cake." The bay horse, trained by Sir Michael Stoute, was placed fourth with five furlongs to go, but surged for the finish and held off a strong challenge from Simenon in the home straight of the two-and-a-half mile race. Sir Michael said: "I really felt it was a seriously tough task for her, I couldn't be confident at all with her taking on the boys and she can be a pain in the backside at times, but it's a great honour to win for Her Majesty the Queen. It's a special thrill for the Queen. She said it gave her great pleasure and she thanked everyone involved. Jockey Ryan Moore said: "All we had was this race in mind - it's great to ride any winner for the Queen but to do it in the Gold Cup is very special. We had a good draw and the pace wasn't mad at the beginning, she relaxed so well over the final furlongs. The win is the 22nd Ascot victory for the Queen, but is by far the biggest at the meeting. It comes with prize money of £155,960, which Her Majesty will distribute to Sir Michael, Mr Moore, grooms and others who had a hand in preparing the horse. Her Majesty did not make any more money out of the win, as she does not bet.