About Royal Ascot - Royal Ascot History

Royal Ascot is one of the biggest racing events of the year and with almost 250 years of history, Royal Ascot has firmly established itself as a national institution. All the tradition, pageantry, fashion and style makes Royal Ascot a big occasion on the British social calendar and this beautiful racecourse provides the perfect stage for some of the best racehorses in the world.

Royal Ascot is one of Europe's most famous race meetings, and is attended every year by the Queen and other members of the British Royal Family, arriving each day in a horse-drawn carriage and raising the Queens royal Standard. There are 3 enclosures for guests on Royal Ascot week with the Royal Enclosure being the most prestigious. As you'd expect, access to the royal enclosure is restricted with high security on the day and the Dress Code is strictly enforced, for Ladies only a day dress with a hat or fascinator is acceptable with rules applying to the length of the dress and ladies must not show bare midriffs or shoulders. For gentlemen a black or grey morning dress with top hat. It's a major event for the press as well, and coverage of the attendees and what they are wearing can sometimes exceed coverage of the actual racing.

Over 300,000 people make the annual visit to Berkshire during Royal Ascot week, making this Europe’s best-attended race meeting. This leads to a split among racing fans, some of whom are glad to see racing in the spotlight, and getting more attention, while others do not like the meeting despite the quality of racing.

Royal Ascot 2012 has nearly £4,000,000 of prize money on offer and 18 Group races running over the 5 days, with at least one Group One event on each of the five days. The Ascot Gold Cup is the highlight and runs on Ladies' Day on the Thursday.

About Royal Ascot - Interesting Facts

Royal Ascot is the most valuable race meeting in Europe with nearly £4 million in prize money on offer in 2011, featuring seven Group One races and eighteen group races in total.
Royal Ascot is Britain’s most popular race meeting, welcoming approximately 300,000 visitors across the five days of Royal Ascot.
The Ascot Gold Cup is traditionally held on day three of the Royal Ascot meeting, which is known (but not officially) as Ladies' Day. Contrary to popular belief the actual title of the race does not include the word "Ascot".
Most successful Gold Cup horse is Yeats, with 4 wins in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009.
Most successful Gold Cup jockey is Lester Piggott with 11 wins, Zarathustra (1957), Gladness (1958), Pandofell (1961), Twilight Alley (1963), Fighting Charlie (1965), Sagaro (1975, 1976, 1977), Le Moss (1979), Ardross (1981, 1982).
The racecourse is also home to Ascot United, a football club who are based towards the eastern side of the site. A new clubhouse, stand and floodlighting have recently been erected.
During Royal Ascot 2010 they entertained approximately 19,000 guests in the fine dining restaurants, over 6,000 in the public restaurants and 750 Champneys "Picnic in a Box" packages were also sold.
To make this level of catering possible, they had 7,945 service staff over 5 days, along with 220 managers and 210 chefs to prepare the food during the week.
During the 5 days in 2010, the following quantities were consumed: