Royal Ascot Diary

Numbers game

When do you do something regularly enough for it to become a tradition? Ascot have taken to awarding trainers and jockeys with a number cloth when they reach a significant milestone. For example Sir Michael Stoute was presented with a ‘76’ on Wednesday when he finally overtook Sir Henry Cecil. Frankie Dettori received one bearing the number ‘60’ from the Queen after the Gold Cup, his 60th winner on Thursday.

As Stoute still rates Etienne Gerard, his first Ascot winner, as his best, might it be an idea if the authorities present a number cloth with a ‘1’ on it to those breaking their Royal Ascot duck?

Oh deer

The Ribblesdale, Coventry, Jersey, Chesham and Hardwicke Stakes are all named after Masters of the Buckhounds, men who held the same status in the 19th century as reality television stars of today.

The last of them was Baron Chesham, in 1901. But you can tell these men and their hounds are long gone for during the chief executive’s lunch party at Royal Enclosure Lodge yesterday a roebuck strolled across the lawn, 25 yards from his 80 guests, without a care in the world.

A real whodunnit?

This is one for Sherlock. Chelsea Thoroughbreds, the London-based racehorse ownership ‘club,’ may only have had one runner this week but they have been entertaining royally.

However, when their ‘racing assistant’ Freddie Morley arrived yesterday to set up lunch he thought he had got the wrong car park – the club’s three ‘luxury’ gazebos left up from the previous evening had been stolen. The police were called, there was a lot of walking up and down but still no gazebos. Eventually, however, at noon they were found bundled up under a bush and then hastily erected. Other high-end syndicates are under suspicion.