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“There was a horse named after my cat and it came in and I’ve never quite known what it won because I was quite little. But it probably paid for our holiday. I used to ride a lot too so
after that I’ve always had a huge love of racing.” She shares her childhood passion with Stewart, who was a 15-year-old school dropout when he hitchhiked for two days from his Essex home to
Merseyside to see the 1967 Grand National. “Dame Judi Dench is not a frequent visitor to racecourses but she has enjoyed a great deal more success than the majority of owners,” says one
racing pundit, referring to “great allrounder” Smokey Oakey, which she co-owned with her friend, racing adviser and driver Bryan Agar. The Mark Tompkins-trained Smokey Oakey won seven of his
55 races and £166,335 in prize money, his most memorable victory being the 2008 Lincoln Handicap at Doncaster. She has also owned two other horses, Zenarinda and Peeps. Today Smokey Oakey
is enjoying a second career in Lingfield, Surrey, with Riding For The Disabled, the charity of which Dame Judi, 83, is patron. She is also principal patron of the British Thoroughbred
Retraining Centre, dedicated to the rehoming of ex-racehorses. She says she does wonder whether her obsession has left her 19-year-old wannabe pop star grandson Sammy – son of her daughter
Finty – somewhat ill-equipped for real life. “My fear is that I have only taught him how to put money on a horse and to open a bottle of champagne properly,” she once explained, adding that
whenever she sees her horses race, nerves get the better of her. Of Smokey Oakey’s racing days she once said: “I like it when he wins but the bit I like best is when I know he’s safe, having
some hay at Newmarket.” When As De Mee lines up at the start of the most notorious steeplechase of them all on April 14, Dame Judi is going to be very nervous indeed.