 She oversaw the restoration of the remote Castle of Mey , in Caithness on the north coast of Scotland , which she used to " get away from everything " for three weeks in August and ten days in October each year . She developed her interest in horse racing , particularly steeplechasing , which had been inspired by the amateur jockey Lord Mildmay in 1949 . She owned the winners of approximately 500 races . Her distinctive colours of blue with buff stripes were carried by horses such as Special Cargo , the winner of the 1984 Whitbread Gold Cup , and Devon Loch , which spectacularly halted just short of the winning post at the 1956 Grand National and whose jockey Dick Francis later had a successful career as the writer of racing @-@ themed detective stories . Peter Cazalet was her trainer for over 20 years . Although ( contrary to rumour ) she never placed bets , she did have the racing commentaries piped direct to her London residence , Clarence House , so she could follow the races . As an art collector , she purchased works by Claude Monet , Augustus John and Peter Carl Fabergé , among others . 
