Football hooligans? Stag do? No, it’s Ladies’ Day at Ascot!
IT is one of the Queen’s favourite events of the year and supposedly a haven of elegant deportment.
But the image of Ladies’ Day at Royal Ascot was shattered last night when seemingly drunken revellers started an ugly brawl.
The fight was apparently led by a shirtless bald man who was seen walking towards fellow racegoers with his fists up and shoving others.
But a group of women were also filmed slapping each other, while another female racegoer was knocked over, highlighting a less-than-genteel side of Ladies’ Day.
Videos of the fight, which happened in the Queen Anne enclosure, showed an area of picket fencing had been trampled and some visitors were seen fleeing in fear, apparently worried about getting caught up in the melee.
Footage of the unsightly antics went viral on social media and Royal Ascot bosses said they were disappointed that the behaviour of those involved had not been in keeping with the prestigious race meeting.
The Queen Anne enclosure is the second most expensive at Royal Ascot and borders the Royal Enclosure, with tickets starting at £75.
The topless brawler showed flagrant disregard for the strict dress code of the enclosure, which says men must be in suits.
The incident appeared to have been fuelled by alcohol as people were shown with jugs of beer.
It comes a day after a half-naked couple were filmed having sex at Kelso racecourse.
Last night police also detained a heavily inebriated woman in a car park at Royal Ascot after fellow racegoers complained. A spokesman for Royal Ascot said: ‘It is disappointing when an antisocial small minority behave inappropriately.
‘In a crowd of 70,000, sadly such incidents are hard to entirely eradiate but our staff and the police act on information as soon as they can.’
Thames Valley Police, in charge of policing the five-day event, was not available to comment last night.
Last year footballers were pictured urinating into glasses on a balcony at the Cheltenham Festival, demonstrating that the reputation of racing as the ‘sport of kings’ has taken a battering in recent times.