p.04 Introduction p.06 A history of Ascot p.10 Iconic images p.30 Anecdotes p.36 Timeline p.40 Yeats statue to be unveiled p.42 The ‘Queen Anne’ Rose p.44 Fashion at Royal Ascot p.46 My Kingdom for a Horse p.48 Safari Team - The Colts and Fillies Club horse p.50 Ascot Tercentenary Ale p.52 Betfair p.54 Longines p.56 Fixture list p.58 Contacts 2 3 Ascot is commemorating 300 years of racing at the Fuller’s have brewed a limited edition “Tercentenary world famous Berkshire venue throughout 2011. Ale” which will be available at the racecourse In this historic tercentenary year, racegoers are throughout the year. invited to enjoy Ascot’s milestone, where its Ascot’s Colts and Fillies Club for younger racegoers, heritage and royal connections will be celebrated which has over 11,500 members, has adopted a and remembered at the racecourse. race horse, Safari Team, for the forthcoming Flat Founded by Queen Anne in 1711, Ascot Racecourse Season. Safari Team, trained by Peter Winkworth, has been uniquely synonymous in the sporting and will be racing in the club’s official silks which have social world with fashion and style coupled with been designed by club member, Frances Flannagan, the greatest racing over three centuries. aged 9. For one year only, the racecourse has adopted “This year is a true milestone at Ascot as we mark a special commemorative logo, which has been 300 years of tremendous sport and colourful replicated all over the site on flags and banners, history at the Royal Racecourse,” said Charles some of which include beautiful historic images. Barnett, Chief Executive at Ascot. A “time-line” has been produced on site and “We are celebrating our tercentenary in many ways in print, marking key events at Ascot since its through the year, perhaps most aptly by unveiling inauguration and also placing them into the wider a statue of Ascot’s greatest equine legend, Yeats, at historical context. the Royal Meeting. One of the most visually compelling additions to “The full tercentenary programme is included in the Royal Meeting in June, always the centrepiece this guide, including information about the “Queen of the racecourse’s year and the focal point of the Anne” Rose, commemorating our founder and the tercentenary celebrations, will be the appearance of first of twelve monarchs to have presided over the the ‘Queen Anne’ Rose, honouring the racecourse’s racecourse.” founder. Royal Ascot will have an eighteenth Group race this year as the Hampton Court Stakes has been promoted to Group Three status and that race has now been renamed the Tercentenary Stakes in perpetuity. The Italian screen legend, Sophia Loren, graces Royal Ascot, 1966 4 5 There are few sporting venues that can match the rich heritage and history of Ascot Racecourse. Over men of elegance should wear waisted black coats The term seems to have been first used in 1823 the past 300 years, Royal Ascot has established itself as a national institution and the centrepiece of the and white cravats with pantaloons. Over the years, when an anonymous poet described the Thursday British social calendar, as well as being the ultimate stage for the best racehorses in the world. The presence this evolved into the wearing of morning suits of the Royal meeting as “‘Ladies’ Day’...when the and patronage of successive generations of royalty have defined so many of the unique traditions that and equally formal clothes for ladies, who must women, like angels, look sweetly divine.” we associate with Ascot today. In fact, without royalty, there would be no Ascot Racecourse. wear hats in the Royal Enclosure. In the nineteenth century it was common for a It was Queen Anne who first saw the potential Gold Cup in 1807. In fact, Royal Ascot was the Although a Royal Stand dates back to the 1790s, small fortune to be spent annually by the most for a racecourse at Ascot three centuries ago and only race meeting held at Ascot until 1939. the Royal Enclosure as we know it today was born fashionable and elegant society ladies on dresses in 1822 when King George IV commissioned a commissioned solely for Royal Ascot, with since then the racecourse has been inextricably Since the very first race meeting three centuries two storey stand to be built with a surrounding their most beautiful and striking outfits saved linked with the British Royal Family. The Royal ago, the presence of royalty and their guests and lawn. Access was by Royal invitation only. Three for parading on the day of the Gold Cup. It is, Ascot meeting traditionally held in June remains attendants meant that Ascot attracted the highest years later in 1825, King George IV also began however, the public not the racecourse who the only “Royal” race meeting in the country. It ranking and most fashionable in society, who came the annual tradition of the Royal Procession. The call it “Ladies’ Day” and although almost every is famous for its Royal Procession in state up the to see and be seen, as well as enjoy the sporting King, leading four other coaches with members racecourse markets a “Ladies’ Day,” the great course, as well as the Royal Enclosure and the pursuit of horseracing. Naturally the fashion to of the Royal party, drove up the centre of the charm of the original is that it has evolved rather party atmosphere of Gold Cup day. attend Ascot filtered down through the social racecourse in front of the delighted crowds and than been created. The first race meeting ever held at Ascot took strata, until by the turn of the century Ascot week this has continued to the present day, remaining place on Saturday 11th August 1711. The had become an established part of all fashionable The Gold Cup is Ascot’s oldest surviving race one of the defining and iconic images of Royal inaugural event was Her Majesty’s Plate, worth society’s summer season. The stylish “great and and today’s winning owners still receive a gold Ascot and of the summer season. 100 guineas and open to any horse over the age good” of the time were guaranteed to spend at trophy which becomes their property. Trophies to of six. This race was almost unrecognisable as the least a week in the vicinity of the racecourse - not The legacy of King George IV, who adored racing be retained by the owner, are only awarded for fast flat racing we see at modern Ascot. Each of just watching the racing, but also enjoying the and particularly attending Ascot week, is still very three races at the Royal Meeting, the other two the seven runners had to carry a weight of 12st extravagant parties and hospitality laid on for their strong at Ascot today. One of the most obvious being the Queen’s Vase, inaugurated in 1838 to and all were English Hunters, very different to pleasure. In fact this tradition continued into the legacies that he left to racing is the racing colours commemorate Queen Victoria’s accession, and the the sleek thoroughbreds that race today. The race early twentieth century, with grand house parties, that he used as Prince Regent, still worn today Royal Hunt Cup, first run in 1843. A member of consisted of three separate four-mile heats, so the breakfasts and balls the norm throughout Royal by the jockeys riding Her Majesty The Queen’s the Royal Family traditionally presents all three of winner would have been a horse with tremendous Ascot week, until the First World War and the horses. The unmistakable combination of purple these prizes. For all the other 27 races, perpetual stamina. Sadly, we have no record of the winner relative austerity of subsequent decades saw the body with gold braid, scarlet sleeves and black trophies, many of which are antiques, are awarded of that first race. Today the Queen Anne Stakes is time for such lavish excess come to an end. velvet cap with gold fringe was also used by King and returned to Ascot to be presented each year. Edward VII. still run in memory of Queen Anne’s foundation But much still remains at modern Royal Ascot The tradition of the Royal Ascot picnic is one of the course three centuries ago. and at the racecourse that can be traced directly The Gold Cup still remains the feature race of the which can be traced back to the very earliest race The precise origin of the Royal Meeting is unclear back to early race meetings here. It was around third day of Royal Ascot. It is colloquially known meetings at the course. In the eighteenth and early - it was an event that evolved over time, but we do the time of the first running of the Gold Cup in as “Ladies’ Day” as, in the formative years, it was nineteenth centuries there are accounts of wealthy know that the first four day meeting took place in 1807 that the roots of today’s traditional Royal the dominant day in terms of the racing, attracting racegoers turning up with entire carriages devoted 1768. Royal Ascot week as we now know it really Enclosure dress code emerged. Beau Brummell, the largest crowds and, we can assume from the to Champagne, wine and cigars and even portable started to take shape with the introduction of the a close friend of the Prince Regent, decreed that adoption of the term “Ladies’ Day,” more ladies! ice-houses to transport them in! In the early 6 7 nineteenth century refreshment tents started to be by the Monarch, by the Master of the Royal provided by London’s gentlemen’s clubs and the Buckhounds from 1711 up until 1901, until Lord “smart” London regiments, where invited guests Churchill was appointed as His Majesty’s first could escape the crowds for cool Champagne and Representative.