The 'Baroness' Barbara Joseph recalls Queen Elizabeth II visit to Thoroughbred Park in Canberra

"It was a day you never forget," the legendary trainer told The Canberra Times, as Australian racing mourned Queen Elizabeth II on Friday.

"It was a very big thing for Canberra racing and the crowd was enormous.

"We had two of the best horses and two of the best jockeys going head-to-head down the straight, with Johnny Marshall on Beau Zam and Jimmy Cassidy on Bonecrusher.

"The noise of the crowd, it was just unbelievable."

The Bart Cummings-trained Beau Zam was the winner of the one-off Queen Elizabeth II Bicentennial Stakes in May 1988, but Her Majesty's attendance made the event especially memorable.

"It was a great accolade for Canberra racing to get the Queen there," Joseph said.

"What that committee did to achieve that, it would have been a very big deal at that time."

The Queen's visit to Thoroughbred Park was one of many stops during an official trip to Canberra to open the new Parliament House.

As an avid lover of horseracing, this may well have been her favourite stop with the who's who of Australian racing descending onto the capital.

Wearing a navy blue coat and hat, the Queen watched the race alongside then Prime Minister Bob Hawke from the grandstand - which was also named in her honour and opened that day - and took part in the trophy presentation post-race.

"I can imagine what he'd would have been saying to the Queen," Joseph laughed. "He was large as life and the Queen would have really enjoyed it."

"Those were the good old days back in the '80s and the '90s with racing," Joseph added.

"There were no mobile phones to bet, everyone came to the races to meet their friends, they'd see the horses, they'd come there for a bet and a drink, and just to get together.

"These days with all the technology we've got, people don't have to do that, they can just do it on their phone, and that's where the fun has gone out of racing now."

Joseph was just starting out as a young trainer back in 1988 and said she was "one of the unlucky ones" who didn't get to meet the Queen.

She regrets that the Queen never returned to Thoroughbred Park again but Joseph remembers how the royal reacted on the Stakes Day.

"Just like when our horses are racing, she loved it," Joseph said. "The smile she had, she really enjoyed it and to go out there and do that trophy presentation afterwards too, it was just unbelievable.

"That was back in my early days before I'd won the Doncaster in 1989.

"But it was great to be there that day and to see what she's done for racing and her love of horses as well, it'll all just carry on."

As part of the Territory Plan Variation lodged by Thoroughbred Park in September last year, the Queen Elizabeth II grandstand is expected to get a much-needed revamp.

As the last major work completed on the site, it has been flagged to receive an upgrade as part of the redevelopment, to keep up with the quality of grandstands at other major race venues in the country.

"It could do with a bit of a spruce up on the outside," Joseph said.

"The function rooms where we've got our big race day next Friday, they've been done up well, but definitely outside could do with a paint and the clean-up."

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