My Introduction to Royal Ascot
And so another magnificent Royal Ascot meet is in the books and boy did it have something for everyone. But one result, the historic Gold Cup, triggered a look back in time when yours truly attended his first two, and only two, Royal Ascot meets and got lots more than he expected. ~ Steve Haskin
My Introduction to Royal Ascot
By Steve Haskin
Ah, Royal Ascot. There is nothing like it. Where else can you see thousands of women’s hats all different and thousands of men’s hats all the same? Where else can you see a 150-1 maiden with virtually unknown connections win the group 2 Norfolk Stakes and then have the very next race won by The King and Queen? Where else can you place a bet on what color outfit the The Queen is going to wear each day? Where else can the aristocracy share the same grounds as the working class but kept as separated as first class and steerage on the Titanic?
Where else can you see 400 helicopters and 1,000 limousines deliver patrons to the track? Where else does the crowd gather after the races each day for a sing-along. Care for an afternoon tea cake, hand-crafted of course? Well, at Royal Ascot you are not alone, as 240,000 of them are consumed during the five-day meet, not to mention 56,000 bottles of champagne.
And for sheer excitement watching the races even Eliza Doolittle, trying to act like the cream of society, lost it. You remember: “Come on Dover! Come on Dover! Move yer bloomin’ arse!”
And then there is the Ascot Gold Cup, the centerpiece of the Royal Ascot meet that dates back to 1807. That’s only five years before England had the audacity to invade America again and 202 years before Wesley Ward had the audacity to invade Royal Ascot.
What better stage for England’s greatest showman Frankie Dettori to bid farewell to Royal Ascot with his ninth victory in the Gold Cup and having the honor of being the first jockey to receive the Gold Cup trophy from both Queen Elizabeth and King Charles. It was 31 years ago that the wild and carefree 22-year-old kid from Milan, Italy started making a name for himself in England by winning back-to-back Ascot Gold Cups with Drum Taps. That would be surpassed when he rode the great stayer Stradivarius to three consecutive Gold Cup victories from 2018 to 2020.
This year Dettori teamed up with Stradivarius’ trainer John Gosden again to win the Gold Cup in thrilling fashion with the lightly raced and undefeated Courage Mon Ami. Looking at the 4-year-old’s pedigree was like going through a time warp, taking me back to 1977 and ’78 and my only two visits to Royal Ascot, and two special years in my life. Courage Mon Ami’s maternal great-great grandsire is Ile de Bourbon, who I saw win the 1978 King Edward VII Stakes at Royal Ascot. Also in Courage Mon Ami’s female family is Shirley Heights, who I saw win the Epsom Derby that same year during my three-week stay in England. I will never forget the son of Mill Reef darting to the rail in the final yards to just nail the pace-setting Hawaiian Sound, a 25-1 shot ridden by none other than Bill Shoemaker.
During the Royal Ascot meet that year I had a meeting with Peter Towers-Clark, the editor of Stud & Stable, the leading weekly magazine in England that was the equivalent of The Blood-Horse and Thoroughbred Record in the United States. I had been writing features for the Thoroughbred Record, including one on England’s National Stud where I visited and photographed Derby winners Mill Reef, Grundy, and Blakeney, and several features for Stud & Stable, including one on Ribot and his groom. After meeting with Towers-Clark he hired me to be the magazine’s official American representative, writing stories and features, and lining up potential advertisers. My first major article under that title was covering that year’s highly anticipated Travers showdown between Affirmed and Alydar and the lead-up to the race and its controversial aftermath.
Two weeks after returning home from England, and feeling good about myself for the first time in my life, I finally built up the nerve to ask the young lady I had been talking to on the phone for many months, but was afraid meet in person, if she wanted to have lunch near her office in Manhattan. She agreed and, despite my nerves turning me into a babbling idiot, here we are 45 years later with a beautiful daughter and two wonderful grandchildren.
But let’s back up a bit. As I said, I made my first visit to Royal Ascot the previous year in 1977 and was privileged to witness the great French stayer Sagaro become the first horse to win three Ascot Gold Cups, as he romped to his third consecutive victory.
However, as memorable as that was, let me assure you that Royal Ascot back then was not the Royal Ascot you see now, and that has nothing to do with the new spectacular grandstand that was built between 2004 and 2006.
Now you see people everywhere photographing the Royal Procession with their cell phones as it makes its way around the grandstand and into the walking ring. The Queen and now The King waves and everyone is happy.
My introduction to Royal Ascot back in 1977 was quite different. I arrived at the track early, well before people started arriving. I decided to take some random photographs, starting with the walking ring and the grandstand in the background. Almost immediately I was approached by a bobby, or policeman if you prefer. Although we weren’t in London I like bobby better than policeman.
“I need to take your camera,” he said.
“Huh?” I replied in my typical articulate manner. “What for?”
“You’re not allowed to take pictures,” he informed me.
“But there’s no one here,” I tried to explain. “It’s an empty walking ring,” adding that I was just a poor naïve and uninformed American caught up the magnificence of this spectacular facility. Well, I didn’t really say that last part, but I did say the first part with a sorrowful, pitiful tone in my voice.
However, my seemingly rational explanation and pathetic demeanor went unheeded, as he proceeded to tell me I had to leave my camera behind and could pick it up when I left. I pleaded my case, telling him I was an American journalist with photographer’s credentials, which was true. And I showed it to him. That did the trick. He allowed me to keep my camera, but reminded me that I still could not take random photographs, whatever that meant. Did that mean I could only photograph nothing? What about a horse? Could I have gotten my walking ring shots later on with horses in it, but not without the horses? I was confused. But no big deal, I had already taken several empty walking ring shots before being confronted by the law.
I eventually made my way up to the enclosure we’ll call the press box. Having made my first visit to England for the Derby the year before, I knew a lot of the British media, thanks to my good friend Peter Scott, the well-respected racing writer for the Daily Telegraph who was the English correspondent for the Daily Racing Form.
So I hung out in the press box with the writers and photographers. Behind the press box there was a balcony overlooking the area where patrons entered the track. Directly below the balcony was a gate that the fancy-clad patrons passed through. I had nothing better to do so I began photographing some of the people, especially the glamorous ladies in their exquisite attire.
Just then, from below, another bobby yelled up at me to give him my camera. Not again. I was a credentialed photographer up on the press balcony merely taking photos of people entering the track. Or so I thought.
“You’re standing over the Royal Enclosure side of the gate,” he said. “No photos allowed inside the Royal Enclosure.”
Not only was I unaware of that, I wasn’t inside the Royal Enclosure, I was above it. You mean if I moved about 15 feet to my right and took the same photos I would be OK because I was now standing over the outside of the gate? Amazingly, the answer was yes.
“I’m not giving you my camera,” I said. So he proceeded up the stairs to take it from me. Just then the other photographers and several other media members went on the stairs and blocked his way and wouldn’t let him up, explaining to him I wasn’t aware of such an insane rule (I added the word insane). Finally, feeling outnumbered and being admonished so vociferously, he retreated back down the stairs. My camera yet again had escaped the clutches of the law.
Afterward I was told that photographs inside the Royal Enclosure were prohibited to protect whichever Duke or Earl or Lord or whatever member of the upper crust might be there with a female companion he did not wish to be seen accompanying. Of course I could have moved several feet to my right until I was above the other side of the gate and gotten the same shot and that was OK. Don’t ask me to explain that. I couldn’t care about the men in top hats. I just wanted to take photos of stunning looking women.
I also heard that you weren’t allowed to photograph the Royal Procession, but that is where I became a hardened criminal and took a number of photos anyway. At the previous year’s Derby I took numerous close-up shots of The Queen and Queen Mother arriving at the track and watching the races, as the Royal box was right next to the press section. Also, I got a great shot of The Queen Mother waving at me from inside her limo, so I felt I had a special connection with the Royal Family and they wouldn’t mind me taking pictures of them riding in a carriage. And I could always claim my camera was zoomed in on those gorgeous white horses pulling them. My mind was starting to act in strange and devious ways.
Fortunately I didn’t have to use my number one excuse in case another bobby popped out of nowhere. “Uh, I’m sorry, I’m just a dumb American who loves The Queen and your country and wasn’t aware of your most fitting and proper rule.”
OK, enough about the nonsensical cloak and dagger world of photography at Royal Ascot in 1977, except that once the action began I was able to become just another media photographer and even crossed over to the infield to get great shots of the grandstand. When we moved to Connecticut last year and downsized I finally after 46 years was forced to get rid of all my slides of Royal Ascot. I wonder how many blackmail opportunities were in those boxes.
You have to remember that back then a member of the American media was not a common sight at English racetracks, especially at Royal Ascot, so the British media took me under their wing and felt protective of me, as they demonstrated by standing up to that bobby. They also knew very little about American racing and loved listening to my stories and asking me questions. I will never forget when I returned to Royal Ascot the following year the Coventry Stakes for 2-year-olds was won by a horse named Lake City, who was a son of Annihilate Em. No one in the British media had a clue who Annihilate Em was so they approached me en masse to find out about him. I told them he won the Travers Stakes when Secretariat got sick and was unable to make the race. The next day I picked up one of the newspapers and read, “Lake City is by the American sire Annihilate Em, who upset Secretariat in the Travers Stakes.” Yikes.
To demonstrate the lack of interest in American racing at the time, when I returned to England in 1978 I stayed with another journalist buddy of mine George Ennor, who wrote for the Sporting Life, the equivalent of the Daily Racing Form. On the second Sunday I was there, a week after the Epsom Derby, I eagerly waited for the morning newspaper to arrive (I can’t remember if it was the Times or the Telegraph) to find out who won the Belmont Stakes. I hated missing the Affirmed—Alydar showdown and Affirmed’s attempt to sweep the Triple Crown, but my plans had been made months in advance.
The paper finally arrived and the only story I saw was some boring piece about the previous day’s nondescript feature at who knows what track. Then at the very bottom of that story was a single one-sentence paragraph that read: “In America, Affirmed defeated Alydar in the Belmont Stakes to win the Triple Crown,” That is how I found out who had won one of the greatest races ever run in America. That shows you how wide the chasm was back then between American and European racing. It was indeed two separate worlds.
So those were my only two visits to Royal Ascot. I would love to return with my wife and daughter one day just so they can go out and buy a new wardrobe and hat collection. My only camera now is one of those tiny Canon Power Shots, the size of a pack of cigarettes. I promise to leave it home just in case I run into a couple of 80-year-old bobbies who still remember me.
Photos courtesy of Alan Crowhurst, Megan Ridgwell, Royal Ascot, and Keystone Archives.
Racing historian, author, and award-winning retired journalist for the Daily Racing Form and The Blood-Horse, Steve Haskin was inducted into the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame’s Media Roll of Honor in 2016. Known for his racing knowledge and insightful prose, he has been an exclusive contributor to Secretariat.com since 2020.
Auguste Rodin wins the Irish Derby in workmanlike fashion. The wind made the conditions pretty atrocious for the jockeys/runners. It’s worthwhile watching the interview with Aidan O’Brien after the race on YouTube, his hair doesn’t stop moving from the gusting wind. Ha ha
I was late to the American Pharoah bandwagon, until that Preakness monsoon and the winds…and he wins by seven running fast early! That W as my ahha moment about that great bay…
That was incredible weather for American Pharoah’s Preakness win. Nobody had the faintest how any of the horses were going to perform in those conditions but American Pharoah just skipped along in that beautiful action of his. Just a beautiful horse to watch, so graceful.
There may not be a great Thoroughbred right now, Cody’s Wish is a pretty solid miler, but….the currently IS a great Quarter Horse, and he’s running tom eve—Expressum! At Los Al….
OH STEVE I CONCUR……YOU WOULD BE MOST DESERVING AND ROYAL LOOKING IN TOP HAT AND TAILS AS YOU SCROLL DOWN THE KINGS HIGHWAY…..I.E. BROOKLYNS KINGS HIGHWAY……..THIS MENTION FROM YOUR FRIEND FROM BENSONHURST…
RECALL OUR CHAT LAST JULY ALL THINGS BROOKLYN SUCH AS FAMOUS CAFETERIA HY TULIP TAENG FONG….JAHNS.NELLIE BLY Coney Island EBBETS FIELD AND. MSG.. HOPE YOU AND YOUR FAMILY ARE WELL.STAY SAFE OUT THERE…..
Imagine wearing top hat and tails to Ebbetts Field. Not my style.
Two Phil’s retired. Fractured sesamoid. Poor to fair chances for full recovery (to race again). No stud deal yet.
Sad yes, but could have been much worse.
I just saw that too. Such a nice horse! Hope we keep him home and he becomes a successful sire.
Me too!
Steve,
Thanks for the look back. I wasn’t much into racing back then, only what was shown on TV for this 16yo. It was fun watching the last day, the media was littered on the grounds, so there wasn’t much missed. In a year where we’ve seen breakdowns, catastrophic or not, it truly makes me appreciate European turf racing.
Awesome stories. I love how you were able to travel around the world and report and photograph all of the diverse tracks. I too have had a few visits to UK racing. My first was in an Irish Pub. My wife and 4 children were with me and we were getting supper and a real Irish pub in Malahide. We walked in and all I saw was the races on tv, stopped to look, while my family was escorted to the dinning area. I asked a patron can we bet? He states that we watch and drink here but wager across the street. Well, i was amused all night.
Haycock was a very interesting track too, with stories for another day.
Yes Eric, the little betting shops – Ladbrokes, Coral, and William Hill – used to be ubiquitous in Europe once but are on the decline now with online betting.
Don’t forget that the Irish Derby is on this Sunday, at the Curragh. It looks like a battle between Auguste Rodin, White Birch, and Sprewell. Let’s hope for a nail-biting finish this time. Good luck and enjoy.
It looks as if the interest in European racing here is limited to about a half dozen people. I would love to see that race but it doesnt look as if I’ll be able to get it around here.
If i am at all representative, i do enjoy the discussions of international racing. If i ever did travel, which i doubt i would do, i imagine horses would be sort of an international language. I still don’t know how anyone handicaps those races with any confidence, though.
Steve, just use a VPN and select the UK as the ‘selected location,’ then join the ITV Hub free trial subscription offer of a week then cancel the offer before the week is up. It’s free.
You can watch the Irish Derby at home.
A little late reading this but have been getting updates on British and Irish racing on my phone and enjoying it very much. It would seem that Adien O Brian is quite pleased with a Justify 2 year old colt he is training. City of Troy? and said how well the breeding with European mares to him is doing. As for watching you can catch the replays on the racing youtube channel. That is where the bits I get on my phone come from.
Steve, that was fun reading all your exploits at Royal Ascot. I had ‘slightly’ forgotten how stultifying things could be at major ceremonies in England during the 70s, 80s and somewhat less so in the 90s and beyond. My father worked for a multinational company who had private boxes at all the major European racetracks so sometimes we were able to utilize them. I never really enjoyed the races sitting in the boxes. I much preferred going to the races with my uncles who were members but they mixed with all the characters at the racetracks.
Royal Ascot has modified quite a lot over the years but having members of the Royal family attending does add magic and a sense of history to the event. This year was a great success with Frankie Dettori starring along with Ryan Moore. Paddington and Tahiyra winning their Group 1 races were the highlights for me. Siyouni is cementing himself as a great sire now.
Speaking of Frankie Dettori, he is going to ride in the Melbourne Cup Carnival as a swan song which will be a bonus for me. Steve, you should go back to Europe to relive the past as Joanne Woodward and Martin Balsum
…as Joanne Woodward and Martin Balsam did in “Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams.”
We cant afford going back. In fact the last three times we went abroad it was because of invitations from Coolmore, Godolphin for the World Cup and the Uruguayan Jockey Club. Oh and we went to Ireland when my daughter studied at the University of Cork.
Sorry to hear that, Steve. This may be of some comfort to you, but friends of mine have warned me that a lengthy trip back to Europe would be somewhat disappointing. When asked to elaborate they say it’s not the same, pointing out that 14.4 million live in poverty now and so much has changed for the worse.
Geez, what part of Europe is that? I imagine its not England or Ireland. I also forgot I covered the th 1997 Arc de Tiomphe for DRF and took my wife and daughter. I had to work about 10 min. a day, having written daily stories before I left and just sending them, and then write a short recap after the race. The r4est was all vacation.
No Steve, the 14.5 million is the UK and of those, 4.3 million are children. Those are the recent figures from the Institute of Government and Public Policy. Percentage wise that is a devastating 22% of the population. The Resolution Foundation, which is an independent think tank, quote 18.3%. In the 1970s, around 2.5 million lived in poverty and that was around 2.3% of the population.
France has a poverty rate of 15.6%, Italy 9.4%, Netherlands 13.2%, Germany 20.9% which is extraordinarily, Austria 13.4%. The impact of Covid in Europe.
Steve, the best place to live in Europe is Vienna. 80% of the population live in Rented accommodation and only have to pay a maximum of only 5% of their weekly income to rent. Moreover, they have the residence for life.
Davids in 2016 at the Breeders Cup I met a couple of young Irish chaps, wearing tuxedo’s, working for a bloodstock agency, they had a filly running Saturday in the downhill sprint—this was the Friday before, I told them I was betting a Chad/Irad filly big—New Money Honey—and she won, and they offered me a “thousand dollar pass” (they called it) bit I said no thanks, cuz I, too like to wander all over, when I attend the races—I was also somewhat under-dressed!..
I can understand that, Matthew. Having to be ‘dressed up to the nines’ to enter the members’ stands in Europe or Australia was always a killjoy. As you say, you want the freedom to wander all over and talk to anyone and everyone you want at the track. You have to sympathize a bit for the bloodstock lads, they were on display at a racetrack as well as the horses. Ha ha
Davids as I left the track that day—it was hot and I had parked back against the fence with bushes behind my car…and lo and behold those two knuckleheads were behind my car returning the beer they had consumed into Mother Nature…and they gave me a jolly send-off!..
Well, Matthew, thank your lucky stars it was only the beer they were returning to nature and not their lunch. Lol. I’m presuming they were aiming their ‘shot’ away from your car?
Wow, what a great walk down memory lane this was. I truly enjoyed this. I felt like I was almost there.
This piece had me mesmerized. Your memory is amazing, either that or you are the best note taker in history. Ha Ha!
Thanks for sharing & I hope you had a great time on your much deserved vacation.
Glad you enjoyed it Deacon. Some things I renember vividly and other things I cant remember, like where I stayed in 1977. I remember in 1976 and ’78 but ’77 is a blank.
All I can say is what an experience this must have been. One day my dream is to go to Saratoga, experience & enjoy the history & take in all of the memories.
You have to go to Saratoga. We’ll give you the royal tour.
My dream as well to someday go to Saratoga too, Deacon
Nice thing is that Amtrak goes from here to Saratoga.
Some great memories . Lots of pomp amd circumstance. I’m so in love with the procession horses . Those gorgeous white horses and all the other ones too. Mi love how the grooms of the racehorses are mentioned. We need to emphasize their role more in our horse programs for all they do for these beautiful animals.
Couldn’t agree more, Delrene. It’s a team effort, Aidan O’Brien ushered a lot of this in by mentioning everyone involved with the win when being interviewed.
Steve, I love the combination of wonder, innocence and hutzpah you showed in this piece! I for one would like to read your impressions of Ribot and some of the other great European stallions you saw in the U.K. on those trips. I suppose Ribot was getting long in the tooth by then, since he was born in the 1950s.
Thanks Ms. B. Ribot actually stood at Darby Dan Farm in Ky. And he was unlike any other stallion. What a character
My bad for misreading your story. My 11-year-old self KNEW he was at Darby Dan. Why can’t I remember that now? LOL!
I too would love to read about your experiences with Ribot and the other stallions who stood at Darby Dan when you were there. That was a great group of horses, and it must have been wonderful to get to know them. If there is ever a time when you aren’t sure what to write about, you might think about them. They would make a great column.
You have so many wonderful memories that you share with us
Once again you have woven your story telling skill with that wonderful memory.
I would love to have attended the Royal Ascot but must now content myself to watch all the royalty, the drama, the races from the comfort of the
recliner.
Hope you had a wonderful vacation and spent time me with your adorable grandchildren.
A friend of mine on FB attended the Royal Ascot this year. She posted great photos. Guess those old rules do not apply anymore.
She did day that walking in heels for two days was the only downer.
Congratulations to Frankie Dettori. He had a fantastic final Royal Ascot. He will be sorely missed.
Me personally, I love all the tradition, the pomp, the ceremony at not only the Royal Ascot but all other ceremonies such as Trooping of The Color.
Thank you so much for sharing your two experiences at the RA and hopefully you, Joan, Mandy and your granddaughter will attend someday.
Great response Lynda. I to am a traditionalist . I toally love & miss the old days of racing.
Pretty much why it is called the “Sport of KIngs”.
Thank you Deacon.
Thank you Lynda. In many ways watching it on TV you get more of an all around flavor of it.
I was hoping that while you were on vacation that you were at Ascot, then a side trip to Oxford to collect that Turf Laureate that you so surely deserve. Besides I think you would look good in Top Hat and and Tails or a Mortarboard Cap and Gown. PS I ‘m not blowing smoke up your butt because you really do deserve that honor! What great racing!
Thanks Derek, but Laureate is usually associated with intellectual, so I have to disqualify myself. But I appreciate the thought. I wonder if I would be the first person born in Brooklyn to wear top hat and tails. What would really be interesting is wearing them walking down the streets of Brooklyn.
These days who would notice!