Royal Ascot

Hello punters:- In recent years, Ascot, a la the Cheltenham Festival, has been extended to take in five full days, Tuesday to Saturday, for its annual rula-bula.

I'm talking of course, about "Royal" Ascot, for although the meeting was usually a five-day fixture, the "Royal" pre-fix was traditionally given only for the first four days, to indicate that the Monarchy and its representatives were officially present at the proceedings.

This left the Saturday meeting, as the man said, to the "commoners", with the royal pre-fix being removed for that day, and the meeting then being called just Ascot Heath, even though the races on that day were run over the same course as had been used throughout the week. Talk about putting people "in their places"!!

Well, the curse of class distinction continues to raise its ugly head, even in the sport of kings, always trying to convey to the general public that in a monarchy, as prevails across the water, all of those outside the aristocratic pale are regarded as commoners and subjects. Could we be looking at the story of "The Kings New Clothes" all over again. What an unmitigated cheek they have!!

This Saturday "Heath" meeting was held every year for a very long time, and had as its main race and centrepiece a race that was named after a legendary British icon, the ubiquitous Sir Winston Churchill, and called, naturally enough, the Churchill Stakes, run over a distance of one mile, five furlongs.

Top class

The race was won by some really top-class animals over the years, and indeed, I do believe that it was won on one occasion by a horse owned by the renowned man himself, making it a unique occurrence in racing annals. The horse in question was an almost white colt, called, Colonist the Second, a decent enough horse by any standards, and an almost dead ringer in appearance to Desert Orchid. This good horse, in the few years he was on the go, won many of the biggest races on the racing calendar. The race itself, the Churchill Stakes, now that the "Royals" have taken over the whole five days, has been removed from the Ascot programme, and has been run alternately over the last few years at either Sandown or Newbury.

Talking of race changes and the like, it is interesting to remember that throughout the racing game, a lot of the most important races over the years have changed their homes, due to catalysts like wars etc, which was understandable, for, it did happen during the 1940's time, that a war-time Grand National was run at Gatwick, and a Derby was run at Newmarket.

Other reasons, which were a lot more mundane, like the selling of courses, for property development, I presume, did more than anything else to sound the death knell of many racecourses, and left a tremendous void in the communities that were accustomed to them, and to the revenue accrued in their immediate area from overspill.

In Britain, coming immediately to mind would be two of the tracks in the overall area of London. The first of these, Hurst Park, was a splendid track, and amongst the top ten of its era. It was the host track for major races such as Classic trials, and premier contests like the Esher Cup and the Victoria Cup.