‘Happy to the end’: final farewell to late Queen Mother’s horse after 20 years of ‘love and pleasure’

A former racehorse bred and owned by the late Queen Mother and who spent 20 years as a much-loved dream horse who turned his hoof to everything has died aged 31.

King’s Rhapsody, who won over hurdles and a bumper while trained by Nicky Henderson, had enjoyed a second career with Elaine Buck, excelling in dressage, showing and jumping.

He retired fully five years ago, Elaine told H&H, adding that this was only as he developed a sarcoid in the girth area, and she had to have a shoulder operation.

“He was happy right to the end,” Elaine said. “He would still be here but he developed a tumour on his face and it was going behind his eye so I had to make the decision. I couldn’t see him suffer, after all the love and pleasure he’d given me.”

“Kody”, who was out of a mare called First Romance, a favourite of the Queen Mother’s, retired from racing and went to Moorcroft racehorse retraining centre in 2001, where Elaine went to work.

The following year, he was invited to take part in a special pageant to celebrate The late Queen’s golden jubilee at Royal Windsor Horse Show, and Elaine went with him.

“It was all royal horses in royal colours and he did a few circuits of the arena; he was absolutely brilliant,” Elaine said. “It was just another day at the races for him.

“Nicky heard he was there and came to find us. Apparently, he was difficult to train – and once took Mick Fitzgerald through the rails at Cheltenham. Nicky said if you’d told him then he’d be doing all this, he’d have said you were an idiot. He was thrilled with him.”

Elaine had wanted to take Kody from the start but the centre wanted to keep him owing to his royal connections; she said the Queen Mother had had a portrait of him by Judy Goodman, hanging at Balmoral, but donated it to Moorcroft to be auctioned to raise funds.

“Then one day, [Moorcrodt founder] Graham rang and said did I still want him,” Elaine said. “There was a pregnant pause and he said ‘Are you still there?’ I said ‘I’m picking myself up off the floor!’ I said ‘Yes please!’”

So Kody, who also starred in H&H twice in features about Moorcroft and about former racehorses, came home in 2003.

“We did lots of things together,” Elaine said. “In 2004 we came third in a local dressage championship, which I was made up with as the winner was a professional rider. I enrolled him with Retraining of Racehorses so I could do a working hunter-type class at the Heathfield country show; the judge was Jennie Loriston-Clarke and she pulled us in third, which I was thrilled to bits with.”

Kody and Elaine also had local showjumping success, and went cross-country schooling and on pleasure rides and the gallops.

“He absolutely loved that,” she said. “Of course, nothing could keep up with him on the Downs; we’d have to wait 10 minutes for them all to catch up! He kept his speed right up to the end.”

Elaine said Kody’s story, as well as that of the many, many other thoroughbreds excelling in and enjoying second careers, shows that “there is life after racing”.

“They’re not for everyone; they’re not a mug’s horse,” she said. “But if you know what you’re doing, they adapt, make lovely companions, do other jobs and enjoy it.

“Ever since I met Kody, he was always a dream to deal with, a sweetheart who loved attention, and loved everybody. The riding could be a problem! But once I’d sorted the brakes out, he was fine. He was always a dream.”

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