The late Queen was a confirmed front runner, passing the post a couple of lengths clear every year (to the final, beautifully choreographed, bars of the National Anthem), and you won’t get much of a price about King Charles and Queen Camilla.
A good bet was always to back the favourite in the ‘The Queen’s Hat Stakes’, in which the leaky, inside information emanating from Windsor Castle after the traditional pre-racing lunch regarding the colour of said hat, often proved accurate.
To save money, the prudent King, who switches lights off wherever he goes, has decided to entertain guests this year at the ‘Roger Of The Raj Tandoori’ just down the hill.
The week always serves as a reminder of the Royal family’s popularity, whatever the small minded naysayers (in my opinion) may think, and it has been said that, for many of the original big Arab investors in British horse racing, the possibility of being invited to meet The Queen after a winner, was a major incentive.
Her Maj was always a big influence on horse racing, a sport that she followed and participated in throughout her life. And, while extremely knowledgeable, she experienced plenty of the ups and downs which comes with owning and breeding.
Every winner deserves to be celebrated and no wonder there were scenes of pure delight in the Royal Box when Estimate narrowly prevailed in the 2013 Gold Cup after which John Warren, the Queen’s racing manager, came perilously close to committing a serious breach of protocol by embracing the monarch.
There were some who felt the ‘Channel 4 Racing’ cameras were too intrusive that day, but the cheering, emotional images will live long in the memory.
King Charles seems happy enough to continue the late Queen’s contribution, even though the green-fingered, thrifty monarch has expressed his shock at the cost of it all.
Indeed, there is evidence of pruning and large, garden-shear cutbacks.
So far this year,16 horses have carried the Royal colours compared to 28 in the whole of 2023.
But, in 2022, the Queen’s final year, there were 37 individual runners.
Desert Hero, winner of the King George V Handicap last year, has an entry in Saturday’s Hardwicke Stakes.
For many who know nothing about horse racing, the opportunity to dress up and see the Royal family up close, is a major draw and the sheer prestige of the event has attracted various overseas challengers – particularly those from Australia – in the past couple of decades.
The likes of Choisir, Miss Andretti and Takeover Target led the charge in those earlier days, but by far the most memorable visitor was the legendary sprinter Black Caviar.
Hailed as the “Wonder From Down Under” by Melbourne racecaller Greg Miles, she arrived at Royal Ascot for the 2012 Diamond Jubilee Stakes as the world’s greatest sprinting superstar.
Considering the far superior prize money at her mercy back home, it was certainly a sporting mission by trainer Peter Moody and the mare’s owners but, to coin a popular phrase amongst our antipodean friends, she looked “an absolute b*****d” before the race.
Black Caviar had a coat on her like a Highland sheep – a black one – and hardly looked the champion of great repute as she walked somewhat miserably around the parade ring right in the middle of an Australian winter.
When she came out onto the course to canter down, the atmosphere was incredible. The only way it can be described is of a loud, electrical ‘hum’ emanating from stands packed with Australian racegoers, many of whom had travelled from as far afield as Earls Court.
In many years commentating at the Royal meeting, I have never experienced anything like it.
What happened next will never be forgotten. Black Caviar, sent off the 1/6 favourite, was clearly not at her best and didn’t travel quite as well as she might have done, but she was still doing just enough with just a few yards left to cover when Luke Nolen, her rider, inexplicably dropped his hands.
Faltering, she only just held on passing the post but when you consider that her nearest French-trained pursuer, Moonlight Cloud, went onto win five Group Ones, it was still a top class, ‘below-par’ performance.
Nolen was desperately overcome with emotion afterwards, tears of shame falling down his face, but also relieved, no doubt, that he still had a chance of making it through passport control on his return home.
Defeat might have meant a drop off in the Indian Ocean.
It was as dramatic a race as you would ever see but also a warning perhaps to other travellers from the Southern Hemisphere that Ascot in June is a tough call.
Attracting international visitors is becoming more difficult, and the Royal meeting cannot come close to competing with the massive prize money on offer in countries like Hong Kong, Japan and Australia.
Racing seasons are changing too with the lucrative growth of racing in Bahrain, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
So, Royal Ascot must not take its internationally renowned prestige for granted, despite the possibility of meeting the King and feasting on a few vegetable madras leftovers.
