The challenge of scorching sun and champagne, betting etiquette, the strictest dress code and the fashion police. In its three-century history, these horse races have preserved all the key traditions. We’ll help you understand how the most famous Royal Races are run.
Horse racing is one of Britain’s oldest and second most watched sports after soccer. Held at the country’s 59 racecourses, it generates more than four billion pounds for the treasury each year.
The racing season lasts almost the whole year, with a break over the Christmas and Easter holidays. In this respect, horse racing is a lot like esports tournaments at http://gg.bet/en/esports. They, too, run all year round and only take breaks a few times a year. And even then, there is the opportunity to watch the lower tier teams play.
Snow and mud, sweltering heat and dust don’t stop you from walking out in your next outfit and cheering on your favourite racehorse. Although the Brits like to joke that “if all the horses disappear from the racecourse, no one will notice”, so busy is everyone with themselves and their networking.
In general, there are more than 15 race types for each type of season in the UK and 9 of the 32 annual Grade 1 races are held at Ascot Racecourse, with 8 hurdle races during the winter months.
November to April is the season for hurdle (jump) races. These are extended races (2 to 3 kilometres) over which the horse has to jump over obstacles up to one meter in height. This kind of horse racing was once considered a middle-class pastime, but in 1965 it came to Ascot. It was an innovation not to everyone’s taste, with the newspapers publishing some venomous comments – “What’s next? Come to the Ritz and order fish and chips?”, while the Duke of Norfolk protested, saying that horses on Ascot could only jump over his corpse and nothing else. Changes are being resisted in other sports as well. The most famous and recent example is esports. Although it is a huge industry with big contracts for athletes, millions of fans and rapidly updated Esports odds at gg.bet/en/esports, there are still people opposed to new forms of competition and entertainment.
Flat racing is the most spectacular and status horse racing. The Ascot racecourse is designed accordingly: it has an oval shape and a team of professionals maintains the state of the turf throughout the year. The courses vary from 1200 to 2400 metres and the horses have to be of a certain age and class. It is these races that Elizabeth II loves so much, who has not missed a race since 1945 and in 2002 made a birthday present to herself and extended the four-day battle of speed and hatred by one day.
Handicap and Steeplechase races – endurance and natural obstacle races – are equally popular. These fierce competitions take place in March and November and are not as well known as the traditional Royal Races, although they do argue with them in scale and dress code.
How it all works
Ascot Racecourse was designed in the mid-eighteenth century, but didn’t get its current form until the 1960s. From 2004 to 2006, it was undergoing renovation, but even that couldn’t be a reason to miss the racing season – Elizabeth II temporarily moved the events to York.
You can arrive at the racecourse by 11am, but the races themselves don’t start until the afternoon. At 2 p.m. sharp the royal family enter the open carriages, a tradition they’ve upheld since 1825.
On all five days, the Queen and her guests leave Windsor Castle after lunch and travel by car to Great Windsor Park. There they transfer to open-air lodges in which they proceed to the Royal Box, greeting the assembled public along the way. By the way, you can bet on the colour of the Queen’s hat at the betting shops until 1.50pm (blue and pink are in the lead).
The races are five days long and this year they run from 18 to 22 June. There are five to six races each day, each with its own name, rules and restrictions. The series of races are also united by certain names, for example, the group of the most spectacular ones on Saturday is called the Diamond Jubilee. The most popular race is considered to be the Golden cup. It is held on Thursdays, the so-called Ladies Day. It is on this day when ladies compete in extravagance of hats and looks. The winner, by the way, is chosen by the Queen herself. The first Golden Cup was founded in 1807 and in 1844 the Russian Emperor Nicholas I attended the raffle. In honour of this event, the cup was called the Imperial Cup for the next nine years, but the grand prize soon got its old name back.
The legendary horse Yeats, the undisputed champion from 2006 to 2009, has a monument on the racecourse grounds. Even if all the horses look the same to you, it’s a good tone to know the names of legendary racers, otherwise you won’t be able to support any smart-talks. The most famous horses are Black Caviar, Red Jazz and of course Frankel. This stallion has 14 victories in top competitions and is valued at a mind-boggling $200 million even after his well-deserved retirement. Frankel, like all his trophies, is not for sale, although his owner receives more than generous offers every year.
The Windsor Lodge is located directly by the race track and offers some of the best views of the races. Queen Anne’s Lodge is considered the most prestigious, especially the King Edward Enclosure and Winning Post which overlooks the Winning Line, the venue where the awards ceremony takes place. The lodge appeared in its present form in 1845.
A two-storey podium was built, with an adjacent lawn for guests who received a personal invitation from the king. In this box in addition to the Michelin restaurants and gardens created especially for the event, you have access to the warm-up area where you can watch at arm’s length the royal racers and their riders in purple jackets with gold braid, as well as a pass to the awarding area where Elizabeth II personally presents the Gold Cup. Incidentally, all the winners’ cups are made by the jewellery house Garrard. At the Royal Box, you can rent your own marquee or private booths in the racecourse building to watch the races: that’s what the Queen does.
