Ascot Racecourse is a dual-purpose British racecourse, located in Ascot, Berkshire, England, about 25 miles west of London. Ascot is used for thoroughbred horse racing, and it hosts 13 of Britain's 36 annual Flat Group 1 races and three Grade 1 Jumps races. The racetrack's current grandstand was completed in 2006.
Ascot Racecourse is visited by approximately 600,000 people a year, accounting for 10% of all UK racegoers. The racecourse covers leased from the Crown Estate, and enjoys close association with the British royal family. Ascot was founded in 1711 by Queen Anne and is about from Windsor Castle.
Royal stands have been in use at the sports venue since the late 18th century. The main grandstand has been demolished and rebuilt on many occasions. The first public grandstand was built in 1839 and has been redeveloped over the centuries. Queen Elizabeth II visited the racecourse quite frequently. The seating area was reconstructed in 1961 and named in her honour, but the stand was demolished and replaced from 2004.
Ascot currently stages 26 days of racing over the course of the year, comprising 18 flat meetings between April and October, and 8 jump meetings between October and March. The Royal Meeting, held in June each year, remains the highlight of the British summer social calendar attracting over 350,000 spectators for the week. The prestigious King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes is run over the course in July.
History
Over its 300-year history, Ascot has established itself as a national institution, with Royal Ascot being the centrepiece of the British summer social calendar.
The racecourse was founded in 1711 by Queen Anne. When out riding from Windsor Castle, she came upon an area of open heath that looked, in her words, 'ideal for horses to gallop at full stretch'. Her plans for a new race meeting were subsequently announced in The London Gazette of 12 July 1711.
That first meeting was held on 11 August 1711 (22 August New Style), the original date (and a race scheduled for 6 August) having been postponed for reasons unspecified, although it has been speculated that the course was simply not ready. The Queen and a "brilliant suite" drove from Windsor Castle to witness it, with the first race being a seven horse £50 plate, won by a horse called Doctor owned by the Duke of St Albans. The original racecourse was laid out by William Lowen for the first meet.
Queen Anne's gift to racing, founding the Royal Racecourse, is marked by the tradition of opening Royal Ascot with The Queen Anne Stakes run over the straight mile.
The first permanent building was not erected until 1793, and was built by local Windsor builder George Slingsby. Holding 1,650 people, it was used for almost fifty years. In 1813 an Act of Parliament ensured that the Ascot Heath would be kept and used as a racecourse for the public in the future. A new grandstand was opened in 1839 at a cost of £10,000.
The administration of the Royal Racecourse is handled on behalf of the Crown by a representative appointed by the Monarch. Until 1901, the racecourse was managed by the Master of the Royal Buckhounds. Lord Churchill was appointed His Majesty's Representative in 1901, responsible for running the course and determining entrance to the Royal Enclosure. The Ascot Authority was established in 1913 by a further Act of Parliament, the Ascot Authority Act 1913 (3 & 4 Geo. 5. c. lxxxiv), with His Majesty's Representative becoming Senior Trustee. Today, as Ascot Authority (Holdings) Limited, Ascot has a formal board chaired by Sir Francis Brooke Bt. who also serves as His Majesty's Representative (Senior Trustee) at Ascot.
Between 1940 and 1943 there was no racing at Ascot. The racecourse was commandeered by the army, with the Grandstand providing accommodation for gunners of the Royal Artillery. Racing resumed on 15 May 1943 with an eight-race card. The first post-war fixture was held on 21 May 1945, when the 19-year-old Princess Elizabeth attended Ascot for the first time. The first National Hunt meeting was held at Ascot in 1965, the course having been established using turf from Hurst Park Racecourse, which closed in 1962.
As an owner and breeder of racehorses, Elizabeth took a keen interest in racing. The jockeys riding the queen's horses could be identified by the royal racing colours: purple body with gold braid, scarlet sleeves, and a black velvet cap with gold fringe. The Queen attended the annual Royal Meeting from her Coronation in 1953 to 2021, and traditionally presented The Gold Cup and The Diamond Jubilee Stakes each year. In 2013, The queen's filly, Estimate, won the Gold Cup – the first time it has been won by a reigning monarch.
Grandstand redevelopments 1793–1800s Before the public stand for the seating of spectators was built, there was a Royal Stand and a betting stand. The Royal Stand was redeveloped from its original foundation in 1793 and replaced in 1822 when George IV commissioned a newly built Royal Enclosure with a royal box. Then, the first public grandstand at the Ascot Racecourse was erected in 1838, seating about 3,000 spectators. Construction continued, and by 1859, the Iron Stand was built, then the Alexandra Stand extension in 1863, and also there was a colonnade entrance built in 1876. Additionally, in 1896, a clock tower was installed.
1900s During the reign of Edward VII, in the 20th century between 1901-02 the three grandstands were demolished, and the Jockey Club, Royal, and Royal Enclosure Stands were built at a cost £57,636 (). Also, the Five Shilling Stand was built in 1908 for the public to attend races at a cheaper price, later known as the Silver Ring Stand, it cost £30,000. Then, in 1926, the Iron Stand was rebuilt, and the Tote Stand was built in 1929, which is still in use today.
Queen Elizabeth Stand
From 13 June 1961, the main grandstand consisting of the Victorian Grand, Alexandra and Iron stands were demolished to make way for a new grandstand named the Queen Elizabeth Stand, which could seat 13,000 people. It was completed in the following 11 months at a cost of £1,000,000 (). The Members' Stand was built in 1964.
2004
The Ascot Grandstand was demolished and rebuilt between 2004 and 2006 in a £220 million redevelopment, the single biggest investment in British horse racing. The racecourse was reopened by the queen on 20 June 2006. The redevelopment was designed by architect firm HOK (Populous), and was engineered by Buro Happold and built by Laing O'Rourke. The main part of the redevelopment programme was the construction of the lightweight parasol roof structure of the long grandstand for the 30,000 seating arrangement; this was designed and built by Austrian specialist contractor Waagner-Biro. The overall specification of the grandstand was to allow 80,000 spectators sitting and standing, and for the racecourse to host over 300,000 attendees during Royal Ascot week. For the 2005 season, the Royal Ascot meet was held at York Racecourse. For 2007, further alterations were made to improve the viewing from lower levels of the grandstand using an innovative steel composite product ("SPS" sandwich plate system) to reprofile the existing concrete terraces. The adjustment supposedly cost £10 million.
The seasons – flat and jumps
The first major redevelopment of the racecourse came in 1954, when the straight mile was moved to make more room for spectators. The flat season at Ascot is run from April to October, beginning with Royal Ascot Trials Day and finishing with QIPCO British Champions Day. In all, Ascot hosts 18 days of flat racing each year, totalling roughly 115 flat races each summer. Grass is cut to a regulation 4 inches exactly for flat racing. Ascot hosts 13 Group 1 Flat races each year including the Gold Cup, St James's Palace Stakes, King's Stand Stakes, Commonwealth Cup and King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes. British Champions Day holds the greatest number of Group 1 races of any raceday at Ascot with four races at the top level.
The first jumps fixture was held at Ascot in 1965. The national hunt course, a right handed triangular shaped course like the flat course, is laid out inside the flat track, and is about 1m 5f round, with ten fences, including two in the straight, and six flights of hurdles. The track is famed for being one of the toughest courses with a 73-foot climb from the lowest point, Swinley Bottom, to the highest point, the winning post. Ascot hosts eight days of jumps racing between October and March, starting with the Fireworks Spectacular Family Raceday and finishing with the Spring Family Raceday. Included are both steeplechase and hurdle races, with around 50 jumps races in all being held at Ascot each season. Grass is cut to a regulation 5 inches exactly for jumps racing. Notable jumps races held at Ascot are the Clarence House Chase, Ascot Chase and Long Walk Hurdle, all Grade 1 contests.
Royal Ascot
Royal Ascot evolved from the first four-day race meeting held at Ascot in 1768, although the meeting as it is known today only really started to take shape with the introduction of The Gold Cup in 1807. Until 1939, Royal Ascot was the only race meeting held at the racecourse. The Gold Cup remains the feature race of the third day of Royal Ascot, traditionally the busiest day of the week. During the racecourse's redevelopment in 2005, the Royal Meeting was held at York Racecourse.
Royal Ascot is held annually over five days, generally in the third week of June. Each of the five days of Royal Ascot begins with the Royal Procession at 2pm, when the monarch and other members of the royal family arrive down the straight mile in the royal Landaus, accompanied by the playing of the National Anthem and the raising of the Royal Standard. This tradition was started in 1825 by George IV.
Royal Ascot is Britain's most valuable race meeting, with millions of pounds in prize money (just over £7.3 million in 2019). About 500 horses race across the five days. Eighteen Group races, eight of them Group 1, are staged each year, and are broadcast to audiences in almost 200 territories around the world.
Ascot employees are augmented by more than 6,500 temporary staff, with over 33,500 items of temporary furniture and 20,000 flowers and shrubs grown especially for the Royal Meeting.
There are four enclosures in total at Royal Ascot, three of them open to the public. The Royal Enclosure is the most prestigious, with access strictly limited. First-time applicants must apply to the Royal Enclosure Office and gain sponsorship from someone who has attended the Royal Enclosure for at least four years. Existing members are sent invitations by His Majesty's Representative to request badges each year. Badges are hand-written and can only be worn by the named person. Colours of badges vary for each day of the Royal Meeting.
The Royal Enclosure has a very strict dress code, with men wearing grey, navy or black morning dress and top hat, and women wearing formal daywear and a hat with a solid base of 4 inches or more in diameter. The origins of the Royal Ascot dress code can be traced back to the early 19th century when Beau Brummel, a close friend of the Prince Regent, decreed that men of elegance should wear waisted black coats and white cravats with pantaloons to the Royal Meeting.
The Queen Anne Enclosure is Royal Ascot's premier public enclosure, granting guests access to the parade ring, grandstand and trackside lawns. Guests in the Queen Anne Enclosure are also invited to participate in the daily tradition of singing around the bandstand after racing. The dress code in the Queen Anne Enclosure is still formal, but more relaxed than that of the Royal Enclosure. Women must dress "in a manner that befits a formal occasion" and must wear a hat or fascinator at all times. Gentlemen are required to wear a full-length suit with a collared shirt, tie and socks covering the ankle.