Horses and jockeys can carry show in racing for the purists

This year’s meeting, even without pomp and pageantry, is for the greater good of the sport and nation’s well-being

This may be a Royal Ascot for the purist, the sport stripped down to its barest essentials and a return to maybe more of what the prescient Queen Anne had in mind when she decided, on a hunting trip in 1711, that this clearing in Windsor Forest was “ideal for horses to gallop at full stretch”.

But in the 2½ centuries of this meeting, Royal Ascot has developed into so much more than just horse racing, even though that is to what it owes its existence.

It has become rich in tradition, has a pomp and pageantry about it which makes you proud to be British, attracts people as much for the occasion as it does the quality of the horse racing which, in itself, is cumulatively the finest five-day meeting in the world.

It will, indeed, take some getting used to without the fashion, without the fine dining, without the military band, without the postrace sing-song, without the Travellers selling heather, without the clink of the glass as old friends meet again after another year, without clipping a rose from the garden to match one’s shirt or waistcoat.

Without the people, however, I cannot help thinking this year’s Royal Ascot will be a hollow, somewhat empty affair.

There will be the pretence that a winner is the same as any other year, but it will be a charade – it cannot possibly be Royal Ascot without the Royal procession, the picnics, the atmosphere generated by the 45,000 who would normally attend on the first day, the owners whose celebrations range from deadpan to deranged.

For not attending they will receive a commemorative owners’ badge and racecard which, one supposes, might get a good valuation on Antiques Roadshow 100 years hence.

Today, there will be 100 horses in action and a maximum of 500 people, all temperature-tested on arrival, at any one time echoing around a racecourse built to hold 70,000 on Ladies Day. Not even the Queen, who owns the course and several runners through the week, can attend.

This, though, is racing, or indeed sport, behind closed doors for the foreseeable future, so we had better get used to it, but social distancing at one of the biggest social events of the “season” does not seem quite right.

The economics of adhering to so much red tape and so many box-ticking protocols that might save lives or might, equally, be a waste of time, “Royal Ascot at home”, as this is being billed, do not bare thinking about.

This one is, however, for the greater good of the sport of kings and, hopefully as a by-product, the mental well-being of part of the nation, though that could be reversed if a whole lot of long shots win. Ascot’s repayments on the loan for its empty £220million grandstand may have to wait this year. The onus on the horses (and jockeys) to perform has, therefore, never been greater.

Between them, they must carry the show this year and, though there are some headline acts about, none of them, with perhaps the exception of Stradivarius, are quite household names. Yet.

But plenty of horses will earn their spurs this week and the standout star of the show today is, undoubtedly, the Charlie Hills-trained sprinter Battaash, the fastest thing on four legs for, well, about 55 seconds a year to be precise.

Standout star today is Battaash, the fastest thing on four legs for, well, 55 seconds a year

The mercurial sprinter is one horse who may benefit more than most from the absence of a crowd and, in the King’s Stand Stakes, overcome a Royal Ascot record which stands at 0-3. It was a happier hunting ground, it seems, for Queen Anne.

However, he has twice been second in this race to the nowretired Blue Point and there looks nothing of the Godolphin sprinter’s calibre in this year’s race.

Now six, he has won 10 of his 20 starts. Generally he is very good but, as Hills pointed out, once a year he is exceptional. Last year that was at York, a course he had previously had issues with, the year before it was at Goodwood, the year before Chantilly. It would be one reason to celebrate if he could really turn it on at Ascot for once.

“He’s won first time out every year of his career, so not having had

a race is not a concern,” Hills said. “It’s nice not to have Blue Point in the race. Take him out and Battaash would have won it twice, so you can’t say Ascot doesn’t suit him, although I don’t think it plays to his advantage.

“Behind closed doors might help. He’s become so much more professional now, but the lack of a pressure-cooker atmosphere at a track that tests his stamina, it must help if he’s not expending energy before the race. At Ascot, horses really feel it going out through those two tunnels [from the parade ring]. It’s quite intimidating for some of them. Last year, he was over-racing a bit and it upset the fractions Jim [Crowley, the jockey] has to do with him. He’s just got to see out the last 20 yards.”

The race named after the course’s founder, the Queen Anne and once won by Frankel, is not overspilling with proven Group One performers this year.

Circus Maximus, last year’s St James’s Palace winner, never really built on that afterwards. Duke Of Hazzard was progressive last season, getting better with each run, and may be a better bet for the new training partnership of Paul and Oliver Cole. But when Terebellum won at Newmarket for Frankie Dettori the week before last, John Gosden had his eye on another fillies’ race but, one presumes, he had a long hard look at the Queen Anne, saw it might not be a vintage one and stuck her in.

So, instead of getting out the top hat and tails and dusting off the vintage Bentley, for a cheaper Ascot without the distractions and sideshows, take the phone off the hook, draw the curtains and settle down in front of the television for an afternoon of racing in its purest form.