Drooping of the colour as Queen misses in the heat
This week at Ascot has not been the best of times for the Queen. She might be the course’s landlord, but for the second day running she was gifted no hint of grace or favour. And, obliged once again by mobility issues to follow the action on ITV, she could only watch from a distance as another three of her horses failed to trouble the judge.
Mind, watching from home she might – for once – have been relieved not to be there in person. It was hot around the course. Very hot. So hot, indeed, that after the Royal procession had officially opened proceedings, the dress code was relaxed for only the second time in the event’s history. As the thermometer dial accelerated upwards into the thirties, it meant that within the Royal Enclosure gentlemen were allowed to remove their top hats and tails. In other parts of the course, however, racegoers had long gone rogue on protocol, shedding clothing like they were at an international streakers’ convention. In some cases it was a sorry sight: for many a racegoer, the jacket holds in much that should remain unseen.
Some managed to rise above the rising temperatures. The Duchess of Cambridge looked so unflustered and cool in a polka-dot dress that the only conclusion was they had installed air conditioning in her open-top carriage. She set the tone for the occasion with a widebrimmed boater, trimmed with a row of blooms. Some of the hats on display elsewhere, however, were less subtle. One woman’s titfer, a purple number the size of a small
satellite dish, was so wide its owner struggled to get through the front doors of the grandstand.
By mid-afternoon, as the heat increased, the sweat patches spread and the well prepared were ostentatiously using their battery-powered mini fans, punters were everywhere visibly withering, apparently engaged in a mass drooping of the colour.
What might have best served as a collective pick-me-up was a Royal victory. Which is not a reference to Harry Redknapp, whose horse Moktasaab was running in the Duke of Edinburgh Stakes. No, what would have cheered the wilting crowd was a win for the Queen. And everything was set up for her first victory of this year’s meeting in the race named after her late husband. This may have been a Class Two handicap sandwiched between the two Group Ones of the day, but the Queen’s horse, Just Fine, had inarguable pedigree: bred by Godolphin, trained by Sir Michael Stoute, ridden by Ryan Moore.
After Thursday’s trio of disappointments, here was hope that racing’s most significant supporter might find appropriate reward.
Sadly, Just Fine barely got going. The Queen had another chance a couple of races later, with Discretion in the Sandringham Stakes. But the filly turned out to have been gifted an appropriate name: so discreet was she, in fact, that she politely disappeared into the pack chasing the winner, Heredia. Then, in the final race, the Palace of Holyroodhouse Stakes, Her Majesty’s Spring Is Sprung, a 28-1 outsider, looked more like a dropped autumn leaf.
Still, there was a hint of romance in the result. The race was won by Latin Lover, ridden by Hayley Turner. The horse is trained by the jockey’s boyfriend, Harry Eustace. More to the point, never mind a winner, it was his first runner at Ascot.
“I’m in the good books now,” said Turner after her win. “I should get a few weekends out of that.”