Ascot also needs to reinvent itself, just like the British monarchy. What started yesterday is the first festival without Queen Elizabeth II, for whom horses were her great passion, and with Charles III on the throne and Camilla at her side. It is the inevitable search for a new identity.
Thousands of people arrived by train, car and bus from the early hours of the morning in the Berkshire town, near Windsor Castle, wearing the traditional hats and flowery dresses, designer in the case of aristocrats and money people, and more economical in that of the working classes of the East End of London, a day when they mix together as if the United Kingdom were a paradise of equality. Although only the most privileged have access to the Royal Enclosure, where the monarch, the queen consort, their court, family and friends sit.
After a kind of universal deluge fell overnight that even threatened the suspension of the first day of the festival (it will last until Saturday), the rain gave way to overcast skies of a normal English day from almost the beginning of ‘summer, ideal for spending a few hours in the countryside having a picnic, gossiping about how people are dressed, betting and generally losing.
First, Elizabeth II was honored with the opening of a photo exhibition featuring scenes from her almost annual presence at Ascot (she rarely did not go), and her odd expressions of satisfaction and joy every when one of his horses won (it happened on twenty-four occasions). In the morning, along with tea and toast, I read not necessarily a general paper, but the Racing Post, with the latest news on jockey and horse fitness, programs across the country, the predictions and betting status.
Although the Gold Cup is the most valued race of the festival, special interest is being aroused this year by what used to be called Jubilee de Platí, and which from now on has been named Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. In total, twelve million pounds worth of prizes will be distributed (fourteen million euros at the exchange rate), and it is the last edition that has the participation of the legendary Italian jockey Frankie Dettori, who at the age of 52 has announced his decision to retire – if He won a total of 77 races, and in 1996 he was victorious in all seven on the program, a record that is listed in the Guinness Book of Records.
The police have taken precautionary measures in case animal or environmental groups try to disrupt the development of the festival with some kind of protest, as happened at the Epsom derby, the Grand National and the rugby league final at the stadium in Twickenham, whose turf was invaded during the game by a Just Stop Oil activist. There are additional security cameras up and down the grounds, and more officers than in previous years.
Elizabeth II’s first winning horse was Choir Boy, in the 1953 Royal Hunt Cup, coincidentally in the same week as her coronation. And the last Tactical, at the Windsor Castle trophy in 2020, when the monarch was already in frail health. Charles and Camilla will run in the traditional purple and yellow royal emblem, and everyone is waiting to see what Saga, Circle of Fire and Reach for the Moon do, representing the new king and his consort, eager to enter Ascot with good foot. What pressure!
It was Queen Anne, in 1711, who saw potential in a racecourse that was then called not Ascot, but East Cote. Four decades later, the event had become so popular among the upper classes that the Duke of Bedford complained that he had come to London and had no one to have dinner with. It is at the beginning of the 19th century when a dress code was imposed (long black jackets, white ties and trousers for men, wedding dresses and hats for women), which during the last editions has been relaxed a lot, and now everyone goes as he wants. Although Ascot, with Charles III or Elizabeth II, is always Ascot.
