A Horsey Holiday for Her Majesty

By KURT ANDERSEN

Queen Elizabeth tours Kentucky farms and Wyoming ranches

She did not step up to the $250 window and bet a bundle at Keeneland, the racecourse in Lexington, Ky. Nor did she twirl any lariats when she visited a splendid cowboy supply shop in Sheridan, Wyo. (pop. 15,146), or shout "Yippee-yi-o-ay-yay" at her home away from home on the range. Nonetheless, to the eager people who got a glimpse of Elizabeth II, Queen of the United Kingdom and Defender of the Faith, during her trip through the American heartland last week, her mere presence was showy enough. "She's approachable," marveled Bud Precise, a Methodist minister who saw her at Keeneland. "She stopped and smiled at everybody. She's the Queen-you don't see one of those every day."

Indeed not. Her Majesty's American holiday, five days in Kentucky's Bluegrass country and four in Wyoming's Big Horn Mountains, was her first unofficial trip abroad since 1967. Unlike the spectacular public tour of California last year with President Reagan, last week's vacation was determinedly private. Her accommodations, while grand, were also chosen for their isolation.

But even her brief forays into public view made grown men gush. "She's got the whole world to go to," exclaimed Lexington Mayor Scotty Baesler, who greeted the Royal Air Force VC10 at the airport, "and she's coming to Lexington!" Ever a Briton, the Queen carried her own black brolly through the drizzle and immediately decamped to Lane's End Farm, the 1,400-acre estate of her host, Horse Breeder William Parish III. A Humble Oil heir, Parish met the Queen while in England for a polo match. Indeed, the theme of the trip was almost entirely equine. Her main sideline back home is the sport of monarchs: she owns 27 Thoroughbreds and came to Kentucky to check out possible 1985 studs for a few of her 22 broodmares. Spendthrift Farms Owner Brownell Combs II explained the attraction of the area. "This is where the stallions are," he said, "and the semen controls the industry."

Lord Porchester, the Queen's racing manager, says that she is "an absolutely first-rate judge of horseflesh." Among the stallions trotted out for her at Spendthrift were two Triple Crown winners, Seattle Slew and Affirmed. At Claiborne Farm she met the third living Triple Crown horse, Secretariat, before a groom brought out a retired stud at the Queen's request: the legendary Round Table, who was born to a horse bred at the royals' farm, Sandringham Stud.

Thursday was a day at the races. An unusually big weekday crowd (12,666) came to Keeneland to watch her and the horses. "She's darling," pronounced Lori Wykstra, a retired nurse. "I didn't see anything dowdy about her." Inside the wood-paneled Keeneland pavilion, the Queen watched a mock yearling sale-cum-Thoroughbred quiz show, all staged for her amusement: the M.C. described only the horses' pedigrees, while the visitor and her entourage guessed at the identity of each animal. Later, mingling a bit with the groundlings in the grandstand after the $100,000 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge, she chatted with the winners. "How do you like racing at Keeneland?" she asked Jockey Keith Allen. Just fine, replied the excited rider, just fine.

Around rugged Big Horn, Wyo. (pop. 217), where the Queen went next, commoners professed not to care much about the visitor out at Canyon Ranch. The principal of Big Horn Elementary School, Ken Welch, even refused the Secret Service request to keep his students off Canyon Road on their way home Friday afternoon. Said Welch: "No way we're gonna reroute a school bus just because the Queen of England is here." Wealthy Rancher William Schroeder, 71, was more jovially grumpy. "What's the fuss?" said Schroeder with a smile. "There's been limeys infecting this valley for 100 years now. It's too late to get all worked up over another one."

Indeed, the area is something of a Wild West refuge for British aristocracy. In the late 19th century, romantic, well-to-do immigrants from Britain poured in: of the 311 Wyoming "ranchmen" the census tallied in 1880, 52 were British. Oliver Wallop, the future Earl of Portsmouth, established Canyon Ranch. The 4,000-acre ranch is still in the family, and the Earl's grandchildren are Anglo-American somebodies: Malcolm Wallop is a Republican Senator from Wyoming, and the Senator's sister Jean is Lady Porchester, wife of the Queen's racing manager.

The just-folks meals at the big stone-and-clapboard ranchhouse were rich. Lady Porchester said that she served "chicken pie as well as apple pie-but not at the same meal-rainbow trout, American ice cream and lots of cookies." Saturday night the Queen was host at a cozy banquet, featuring steak and cheesecake for her companions and a dozen Wallop friends at the rustic Maverick Supper Club, a onetime gambling joint.

The clash of cultures was quaint. But the visiting Britons did nearly prompt one international incident. The two-week elk-hunting season begins in western Sheridan County just as the Queen is to leave for London this week. A security-conscious retainer asked local authorities if the season might be postponed a few days. Not bloody likely. "They didn't know what they were asking," Sheriff William Johnson suggested indulgently. Bruce King of King's Saddlery was thrilled that the Queen visited his shop-but come on, he said, "you don't mess with hunting season."

-By Kurt Andersen. Reported by J. Madeleine Nash/Lexington and Robert C. Wurmstedt/Sheridan

With reporting by J. MADELEINE NASH, Robert C. Wurmstedt