DIARY – ROYAL ASCOT 2018
LADIES DAY – FEATURING THE ASCOT GOLD CUP
THURSDAY 21 JUNE 2018
|
The winner of the Ascot Gold Cup Stradivarius trained by John Gosden
and ridden by Frankie Dettori This
was my first visit to Royal Ascot, although I’d been to 16 previous National
Hunt racing fixtures at the Berkshire track.
This particular outing was at the invitation of my employer, due to a
number of the original invitees having dropped out. Royal Ascot takes place over 5 days;
Tuesday to Saturday, with 6 races each day.
This year the dates were 19 to 23 June, with the outing having been arranged
for Thursday 21 June, Ladies Day which is also Gold Cup Day. The invitation was extended nine days before the
event, leaving me with little time to plan my outfit ... although that
probably wasn’t a bad thing! A number
of my work colleagues seemed to be continually changing their minds regarding
dresses; ordering a number online, then returning all bar the one they’d
chosen to wear or even finally deciding that they’d wear one they already
owned. Anyway, I took a look at dresses on the Bravissimo website; there was a lovely mauve lace dress
listed – a ‘Megan’ evidently – but
it was £85 and I’d not budgeted for a trip to Royal Ascot this summer. I thus decided it would have to be a top,
skirt and jacket for me; being top heavy, it’s not easy to find dresses in a
style I like, hence my research on Bravissimo. My favourite colours are shades of purple, turquoise
and cobalt. I found a cobalt top and a
cobalt skirt in my cupboard, also a mauve jacket. I would wear my silver ‘Donna’ shoes by Hotter. I went out on a reconnaissance trip on Tuesday
12 June, so on Wednesday I was ready to purchase a silver hat/fascinator from
M & S, plus a silver ‘lunchbox’
handbag by Faith from Debenhams. However, I also saw a nice taupe-coloured handbag
by Dune in TK Maxx, so I returned there the following day. I couldn’t find it to begin with, so was
feeling disappointed ... then I looked again, and it transpired that someone
had moved it! I still loved it at
second viewing, so had to buy it. This
Ascot malarkey is expensive because you see clothing and accessories you
shouldn’t be looking at!!! And then it got even more expensive; I decided I
wanted to new skirt. M & S just so
happened to have a cobalt blue lace midi-length pencil skirt available, for
£45.00. But, they’d also recently
issued a number of price reduction vouchers with 10% off the price of skirts
– so that reduced it to £40.50. I
ordered it online and collected it from the local store two days before the
outing. I also bought a bright pink
sparkly pashmina the day before, also from M &
S, just in case I changed my mind regarding my jacket. So that was my budget completely blown ...
especially as there had been no budget in the first place! I was up at 05:45 on the morning of the races,
and left home at 08:10 to drive to Sopwell House
Hotel where there would be a coach waiting to take a group of colleagues
including me to Ascot. After reporting
to reception and collecting our restaurant badges and tickets, we boarded the
coach and set off at 09:30; this was 30 minutes later than expected. Initially our journey took us along the narrow Cottonmill Lane, which took quite a while due to the
coach having to squeeze past oncoming traffic. We then headed along Napsbury
Lane, before joining the westbound carriageway of the A414. Having negotiated the Park Street
roundabout, we continued along the A405, passing the Noke
Hotel en route, in order to join the anticlockwise carriageway of the M25 at
junction 21A. It came as no surprise that there were delays,
due to weight of traffic, upon the London orbital motorway; especially close
to the M40 and M4 junctions. We left
the M25 at junction 15 to head along the latter and subsequently headed off
that motorway at junction 6, Slough Central.
We continued south on the A332, over the River Thames to reach a
roundabout. Whilst we were waiting in
the queue at this point, a colleague pointed out a number of cardboard
cut-outs of The Queen and other members of the Royal Family which had been
positioned on the balconies of a new development for elderly residents. Personally, I’d have travelled via the ‘Legoland’
route; but the coach driver headed along the A308 instead, before continuing
along the A332 beside Windsor Great Park.
We soon came to a halt, having joined the back of a slow moving queue
of traffic; a number of red kites circled nearby ... or perhaps they were
vultures! Finally, we arrived at the long-about, with the
majority of traffic continuing upon the A332.
In contrast, we took the B383, further along turning right into
Cheapside Road. Just beyond the
housing, we turned right again, in order to head through the woodland; at one
point, we took a shape left turn, to head alongside a lake to our right. Further on, we skirted around the Ascot
United Football Club pitch, and were subsequently directed to park within a
field adjacent to the Royal Ascot Golf Club; Car Park 10. I left my mauve gym bag on the coach when we
alighted; it contained a bottle of water, a pair of flatter shoes and my new pashmina. The lady
who had organised the trip had been told that we were just a 10 minute walk
from the racecourse entrance. I think
that must have been 10 minutes for me, but not for inexperienced
walkers!!! Anyway, there was plenty of
moaning from others, as we headed out of the car park, across the Winkfield Road via the bridge, down the steps beside it,
then under said bridge, along the road for a short distance, before turning
right to head up beside the Windsor Enclosure, then up a number of steps and
into the Queen Anne Enclosure entrance hall. Whilst in the Winkfield
Road, we’d seen a coach and four shuttling smartly dressed punters to the races. One of the ladies in our group managed to fall
over; others were forced to change their shoes into the flatter pairs they’d
brought along with them! Needless to
say, slow walking in heels, even considering my ongoing pelvis issues, didn’t
prove a problem for me. As it was nearing lunchtime, we headed straight
to the Pavilion Restaurant. There were
a number of tables booked, as there had been three coaches taking staff to
the racecourse – one from Reading, one from St Pancras and ours from St
Albans. A number of employees had also
made their own way to the racecourse, either by car or train; we have
branches nationwide. I was sat with girls from Liverpool, also one of
the Directors, the Financial Director, plus one of the PA’s. The PA and Director had planned to catch a
train from St Albans to St Pancras but plans had gone badly awry because of a
six mile signalling failure in the Luton area. This resulted in no trains running north of
St Albans, so only those coming up from the south and terminating at the City
Station before returning to the Capital were available. As you can imagine, this caused a great deal of
anger amongst the commuters; piled on top of the disruptions already caused
by extensive timetable changes the previous month. Due to the lack of trains today, platforms
had become dangerously overcrowded and gates were closed to prevent further
passengers from entering the area.
Gates were kicked, broken and barriers were scaled in an attempt to
reach any train which might become available.
People were soon spilling out onto the pavement and roadway outside
the ticket hall. Anyway, having been greeted by an insurmountable
problem with regards to finding a train to London, the Director and PA found
a cab to take them all the way to St Pancras!
The coach was due to depart from the London station at 09:30 and they
arrived with moments to spare.
Phew! In view of the problems,
had I been due to travel to Luton on this Thursday, I’d have been caught up
in the problems too. I carry little
cash with me on a daily basis, and a debit card very rarely too so, even if
I’d walked to the City Centre to catch a bus to Luton I may have been short of
the fare! Our restaurant table, which I think was no.62,
was one of the last in our group to be served. The waiter/waitresses began to bring the
starters out at 11:50. The starter was
Coronation Chicken terrine with golden raisin and caper puree, plus mango
salad. The main course was slow cooked rump of Royal
Estate lamb, summer bean and petit pois salad,
asparagus, Jersey Royals, and salsa verde. Dessert was salted caramel custard tart
with milk ice cream. I wasn’t particularly keen on the starter, and
thought there was too much lamb and not enough
vegetables in the main course. I
didn’t eat all of the lamb; I still feel guilty eating lamb! Fortunately I loved the dessert. There would have been afternoon tea too, had I
wanted to return to the Restaurant later in the afternoon; sandwiches,
buttermilk scones served with Highgrove strawberry
preserve and Cornish clotted cream served with tea and infusions. A shame to have missed it ... but I didn’t
want to miss the horses in the Parade Ring and Winners’ Enclosure! With lunch completed at around 13:30, there was
just time for a brief trip to the loo before the PA and I headed to the
Parade Ring to see The Queen arrive in her carriage; she arrives at 14:00
each day. It came as no surprise that
the steppings were already packed, but we managed
to find a space, facing towards the grandstand, behind the front row at the
top thereof and, when she arrived, we did get a brief glimpse. The Duke of York, the Princess Royal,
Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie were also in attendance today. Security personnel, with guns, were stood
on top of the towers to the rear of the grandstand – for health and safety
reasons they were secured to the building too! I stayed on the steppings
overlooking the Parade Ring ahead of the first race, whilst my colleague
wandered off; I think she wanted to go to the Royal Ascot shop. I love shopping, but watching horses is
even better ... and a lot cheaper! The favourite for the first race was Vintage
Brut, trained by Tim Easterby and ridden by David
Allan; price 4-1. However, it was the American filly Shang Shang Shang trained by Wesley
Ward which made all, under jockey Joel Rosario; she hung on to win by just a
nose at the line. The winner was priced at 5-1. The favourite finished a very
disappointing 9th. The result was as follows:
By
the time the winner returned, I’d moved position to be closer to the Parade
Ring entry point, although continuing to watch from the far side thereof, for
the moment at least. The
favourite for the second race was Key Victory, trained by Charlie Appleby and
ridden by William Buick; price 7-2. The
winner was Hunting Horn for trainer Aidan O’Brien and jockey Ryan Moore;
price 5-1. He took up the running
inside the final two furlongs, and stayed on strongly to win by 4½
lengths. The favourite finished 6th. The result was as follows:
After
the fillies had departed for the racecourse ahead of race 3, I headed around
to the area above the Weighing Room, overlooking the Winners’ Enclosure. Having found a space, I noticed that the
lady standing next to me was also wearing the same design of M & S hat,
only in navy! The
favourite for this race was Wild Illusion, trained by Charlie Appleby and
ridden by William Buick; price 9-4. Magic
Wand led initially, before Highgarden took up the running
a mile from home. Magic Wand continued
to track the leader and led again over two furlongs out; she went clear more
than a furlong from the finish and stayed on strongly to win by 4 lengths at
the line. Meanwhile
the favourite had raced keenly, whilst tracking the leaders. She took 2nd position two furlongs from
home but was soon ridden and was only able to plug on to the line. The result was as follows:
The joint-favourites for the Gold Cup were the
2016 winner and 2017 runner-up Order Of St George, trained by Aidan O’Brien
and ridden by Ryan Moore; also Stradivarius, trained by John Gosden and ridden by Frankie Dettori,
winner of last year’s Queen’s Vase and Goodwood
Cup. They were priced at 7-4 today. The pace was steady, with Mount Moriah leading until Torcedor
took up the running over 3 furlongs out.
Stradivarius was then ridden to lead over a furlong out, with the
French challenger Vazirabad seemingly having every
chance in the closing stages too.
However, Frankie’s mount stayed on strongly to assert in the final 100
yards, winning by three quarters of a length at the line. Order Of St George was disappointing; he was a
little reluctant to go the post and, although tracking the leaders, was being
pushed along over 4 furlongs out.
However, despite this, he seemed to have every chance until the winner
quickened away in the home straight.
Ryan’s mount subsequently hung right and weakened inside the final
furlong to finish 4th. The result was as follows:
The favourite for the penultimate race was Crack On
Crack On, trained by Clive Cox and ridden by David Probert;
price 13-2. The runners split into three groups; stand-side,
middle and with three horses on the far side too. The nearside group was led by Il Primo Sole, Ostilio led the middle
group, and Statuario the far group. Ostilio
subsequently came towards the stands-side, before grabbing the rail position
over four furlongs out; despite being ridden over one furlong out, he stayed
on strongly to win by 1¼ lengths at the line. The favourite had been slow into stride and was
behind on the stands-side. He switched
towards the centre two furlongs out but, despite staying on, didn’t have to
pace to challenge the leaders; he completed in 13th position. Having styled out the navy blue M & S hat ‘incident’; I now discovered that a new
lady was standing next to me, this time wearing exactly the same hat as me,
in silver! That’s the problem with
buying a hat from M & S; you’re bound to see others wearing one too. Fortunately, I didn’t notice anyone wearing
the same M & S skirt as me. The result was as follows:
The
favourite for the final race was Communique,
trained by Mark Johnston and ridden by Silvestre De Sousa; price 9-2. There were 18 runners in this one, Dubhe having been withdrawn at the start; six of these 18
represented trainer Mark Johnston! Elegiac
led initially, with the favourite taking over the running after two
furlongs. Another Johnston runner,
Baileys Excellence, was the next to lead the field, narrowly. Communique
re-took the advantage 4 furlongs out.
Subsequently a fourth Johnston runner, Baghdad, was ridden to lead
narrowly inside the final two furlongs, with Corgi laying down a challenge
all the way to the line. In addition,
First Eleven met trouble in running but was staying on strongly as the winning
line approached. It
was a three-way photograph at the post, with Baghdad getting the verdict by a
neck over Corgi, and First Eleven a further nose away in third position. The result was as follows:
Knowing that I had to report to the coach at
18:00, I waited until the winner had arrived back in the Winners’ Enclosure but
departed before the mementos were presented.
Unfortunately many spectators had also decided it was now time to
leave, so I was stuck for a few minutes, gridlocked on the concourse. Eventually this cleared a little and I was
able to head across to the steps which led down into the Queen Anne
Enclosure. Mind you, one bloke bumped
into me and nearly knocked me off my feet, although he did apologise. I made my way down through the crowded enclosure,
past the bandstand where race-goers were gathering for the post-race ‘sing-song’; I was heading for the
entrance/exit hall. There was a long
queue for the ladies loo therein; fortunately I was okay and decided I could
last home! I recognised three ladies from
our group, but decided not to accompany them, as they wouldn’t be able to
walk as fast as me! Besides, one had
suffered a recent fracture to an ankle; this was now encased in a fracture
boot! Apart from my feet feeling a little numb, due to
standing still for the majority of the afternoon, I felt fit enough to
overtake numerous people as I headed down the concourse towards the
road. At one point, two mounted police
officers headed towards us; they were needed to act as ‘out-riders’ for an ambulance as it weaved its way to the highway. Once I’d reached the Winkfield
Road, I turned left to head through the underpass. There were two options further ahead; I
could either climb the steps in order to retrace my inbound route, or
continue along the road to where a steward was controlling a crossing
point. I chose the latter, because I
didn’t have the patience to follow the slow-moving group of people as they
headed up the paved steps! However, upon reaching the crossing point, we
were forced to wait for a break in the traffic before we were permitted to
walk across the road. Whilst waiting,
I recognised two members of senior personnel who passed by on the opposing
pavement; but they’d disappeared by the time I got across to the other
side. Although I’m usually very good at directions, I
wasn’t 100% sure where the coach was parked. So, having gone slightly ‘off piste’ within
the first field I encountered, I then headed into a second field to be
greeted by numerous coaches lined up each side of a central corridor. I decided to wait until I saw further
people that I knew; it was the Liverpool girls who turned up first. We almost walked past our coach, before realising
it was the one we needed! It did have
our company name written on a sticker attached to the front windscreen, but
the writing was small and difficult to read.
The coach company’s name was emblazoned on the side of the vehicle,
but that wasn’t clearly visible due to the proximity of coaches either
side! Anyway, we were the first people
to arrive back, and I decided to sit on the off-side this time, second row. I was latterly joined by the Scottish area
manager. With everyone due aboard the coach accounted for,
it left at 18:30. All three coaches
would be returning to the Sopwell House Hotel,
allowing many of the attendees to stay overnight before departing for home
the next morning. I had been offered
the opportunity to stay, but couldn’t find enough of a reason to do so
because I lived not far from the hotel and wouldn’t be handicapped by alcohol
intake either! Although we’d earlier been told that our exit
route would be far more direct, our driver followed the signage and we ended
up returning via our inbound route after all.
The straight mile was being watered by a sprinkler as we drove
by. Having re-entered the woods, we
encountered a couple of vehicles heading in the opposite direction; small
coaches I think. They were a squeeze
to get by! We continued along the causeway beside the lake
once more, before reaching a T-junction where we turned left. There was another delay within the village of
Cheapside, where we had to squeeze around parked cars against a line of
oncoming traffic. This was followed by
a further delay at the next T-junction, because traffic upon the B383 seemed
reluctant to let us out onto the main thoroughfare; it had to halt in both directions
to enable us to manoeuvre out. A little further on was a set of temporary
traffic lights and we were held at these whilst other coaches exited from a
side-road on our left. We then
continued on to the long-about; another delay was encountered whilst we waited
in a queue to enter the traffic island. Finally we were in the clear and heading back up
the A332 towards Windsor. However, we
encountered yet another tailback whilst travelling along beside Windsor Great
Park. This was caused by an ambulance
parked on our carriageway; it transpired that a cyclist had been knocked off
their bike, as a rear-dented car was also parked nearby. The injured cyclist’s friend was waiting
near the emergency vehicle, presumably having called for the ambulance. Having cleared this unfortunate obstruction, we
continued along the A332 to reach the outskirts of Windsor. We subsequently headed along the A308
which, for part of the journey, took us around a one-way system. After negotiating another roundabout, we
continued along the Windsor bypass before arriving at junction 6 of the
M4. We then headed along the eastbound
carriageway to reach the M25. Having
entered the London orbital motorway, we encountered slow moving traffic on
the initial stretch, despite it now being early evening. We continued upon the motorway, with the driver
deciding that it would be better to leave at Junction 22, rather than at 21A
where we’d joined it earlier in the day.
We continued up the dual carriageway to the London Colney
roundabout. Our coach waited for the
traffic lights to change to green, after which our driver managed to ‘cut-up’ a car to our right by
encroaching into its lane! Oops! The car driver wasn’t happy and sounded his
or her horn! We subsequently continued along the dual carriageway,
before turning off at a slip-road in order to join Napsbury
Lane. We headed back over a bridge
across the dual carriageway, followed by a bridge over the Bedford to St
Pancras Thameslink railway line; retracing our
steps towards the Sopwell House Hotel. The initial section of Cottonmill
Lane was clear but, as we rounded the corner adjacent to the old lodge, we
encountered a number of vehicles heading in the opposite direction. The first vehicle managed to squeeze by, but
not before the driver of the left-hand drive vehicle had manually pushed in his
right-hand wing mirror. And there was worse to come, as the lady driver of
the second vehicle was almost overcome with tears as she tried to cope with
manoeuvring her car past our coach. Finally we were clear of the obstructions.
However it was decided that, instead of backing into the driveway at the
Hotel as had been the case in the morning, the driver would park outside so
that everyone could alight and walk the short distance along the driveway. He’d then turn around within the car park
of the Mill opposite, before returning back from whence he came. The mill itself had been converted into
office space many years ago. I, meanwhile, headed off to collect my car from
the far end of the car park, behind the main hotel building. I waved to a group of colleagues as I drove
out, heading for home. In fact I
followed the coach along Cottonmill Lane, at a
distance, and arrived home at 20:20. * *
* * *
* * With a final flourish, Aiden O’Brien was crowned
Champion Trainer at this year’s Royal Ascot; having trained 4 winners, he won
on count-back over John Gosden and Sir Michael Stoute who also trained four winners apiece. Ryan Moore claimed the Champion Jockey
prize, with 5 winners, over Frankie Dettori’s 4
winners. There are 30 races at Royal Ascot, with the most
successful sire this year being Frankel. His sire Galileo (Saddlers
Wells/Urban Sea) had 2 winners, as did Galileo’s half-brother Sea The Stars
(Cape Cross/Urban Sea). Camelot (Montjeu) also had 2 winners, along with Mastercraftsman (Danehill
Dancer) and Shamardal (Giant’s Causeway). Both Frankel and Galileo also sired two
runner-ups each. * *
* * *
* * A nasty incident occurred at Ascot this day when the
horses pulling the private hire carriage, which was transporting race-goers
away from the course at the time, were spooked and subsequently crashed
through a shop window. Fortunately
no-one was hurt and, contrary to reports, the horses were okay although one
was battered and bruised and needed stitches too: http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/news/praise-authorities-brave-carriage-horse-ascot-accident-657236 * *
* * *
* * Click here for Photos |
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STATISTICS
|
Sire |
Winner |
Race |
Distance |
Age |
|
|
|
Acclamation (UK) |
Expert Eye |
Jersey Stakes (Group 3) |
7 furlongs |
3-year-old |
|
|
Camacho (UK) |
Signora Cabello |
Queen Mary Stakes (Group 2) |
5 furlongs |
2-year-old fillies |
|
Camelot (UK) |
Hunting Horn |
Hampton Court Stakes (Group 3) |
1 mile 2 furlongs approx |
3-year-old |
|
|
|
Camelot (UK) |
Arthur Kitt |
Chesham Stakes (Listed) |
7 furlongs |
2-year-old |
|
|
Delegator (UK) |
Accidental Agent |
Queen Anne Stakes (Group 1) |
1 mile |
4-year-old plus |
|
|
Dubawi (IRE) |
Old Persian |
King Edward VII Stakes (Group 2) |
1 mile 4 furlongs approx |
3-year-old |
|
|
Fastnet Rock (AUS) |
Merchant Navy |
Diamond Jubilee Stakes (Group 1) |
6 furlongs |
4-year-old plus |
|
|
Footstepsinthesand (UK) |
Lagostovegas |
Ascot Stakes (Handicap) |
2 miles 4 furlongs approx |
4-year-old plus |
|
|
Frankel (UK) |
Baghdad |
King George V Stakes (Handicap) |
1 mile 4 furlongs approx |
3-year-old |
|
|
Frankel (UK) |
Without Parole |
St James’ Palace Stakes (Group 1) |
1 mile approx |
3-year-old |
|
|
Frankel (UK) |
Monarchs Glen |
Wolferton Stakes (Listed) |
1 mile 2 furlongs approx |
4-year-old plus |
|
Galileo (IRE) |
Magic Wand |
Ribbledale Stakes (Group 2) |
1 mile 4 furlongs approx |
3-year-old fillies |
|
|
|
Galileo (IRE) |
Kew Gardens |
Queen’s Vase (Group 2) |
1 mile 6 furlongs approx |
3-year-old |
|
|
Invincible Spirit (IRE) |
Eqtidaar |
Commonwealth Cup (Group 1) |
6 furlongs |
3-year-old |
|
|
Kheleyf (USA) |
Bacchus |
Wokingham Stakes (Heritage Handicap) |
6 furlongs |
3-year-old plus |
|
|
Kingman (UK) |
Calyx |
Coventry Stakes (Group 2) |
6 furlongs |
2-year-old |
|
|
Mastercraftsman (IRE) |
Alpha Centauri |
Coronation Stakes (Group 1) |
1 mile approx |
3-year-old fillies |
|
|
Mastercraftsman (IRE) |
Agrotera |
Sandringham Stakes (Handicap) |
1 mile |
3-year-old fillies |
|
|
Motivator (UK) |
Pallasator |
Queen Alexander Stakes (Conditions
Race) |
2 miles 6 furlongs approx |
4-year-old plus |
|
|
New Approach (IRE) |
Ostilio |
Britannia Stakes (Heritage Handicap) |
1 mile |
3-year-old colts & geldings |
|
|
Poet’s Voice (UK) |
Poet’s Word |
Prince of Wales’ Stakes (Group 1) |
1 mile 2 furlongs approx |
4-year-old plus |
|
|
Rio de la Plata (USA) |
Settle For Bay |
Royal Hunt Cup (Heritage Handicap) |
1 mile |
3-year-old plus |
|
Sea The Stars (IRE) |
Stradivarius |
Gold Cup (Group 1) |
2 miles 4 furlongs approx |
4-year-old plus |
|
|
|
Sea The Stars (IRE) |
Crystal Ocean |
Hardwicke Stakes (Group 2) |
1 mile 4 furlongs approx |
4-year-old plus |
|
|
Shamardal (USA) |
Blue Point |
King’s Stand Stakes (Group 1) |
5 furlongs |
3-year-old plus |
|
|
Shamardal (USA) |
Aljazzi |
Duke of Cambridge Stakes (Group 2) |
1 mile |
4-year-old plus fillies/mares |
|
Shanghai Bobby (USA) |
Shang Shang
Shang |
Norfolk Stakes (Group 2) |
5 furlongs |
2-year-old |
|
|
|
Showcasing (UK) |
Soldier’s Call |
Windsor Castle Stakes (Listed) |
5 furlongs |
2-year-old |
|
|
Teofilo (IRE) |
Dash Of Spice |
Duke of Edinburgh Stakes (Handicap) |
1 mile 4 furlongs approx |
3-year-old plus |
|
|
Zoffany (IRE) |
Main Edition |
Albany Stakes (Group 3) |
6 furlongs |
2-year-old |
