Royal Ascot 2: 2008-2018


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I must say that we are always commenting on the ladies attire but the Duke of Edinburgh looks smashing today. I love the combination of the different stripes. He looks terrific!!!
 
Question: is Ascot a royal 'must do' thing? Or has it been the decision of the Queen - because she likes horses, breeds them, races them - made it so? One doesn't see Charles and Camilla around much - and William and Kate not at all - so I am wondering, when Charles becomes King (and certainly William) might it be that there is no longer a royal presence, a royal box, at Ascot?

Thank you for the answer in advance. :flowers:
 
Question: is Ascot a royal 'must do' thing? Or has it been the decision of the Queen - because she likes horses, breeds them, races them - made it so? One doesn't see Charles and Camilla around much - and William and Kate not at all - so I am wondering, when Charles becomes King (and certainly William) might it be that there is no longer a royal presence, a royal box, at Ascot?

Thank you for the answer in advance. :flowers:

Well it is called Royal Ascot ;) Royals have attended since 1711 when the event was founded by Queen Anne. The only times we haven't had a royal procession is when Queen Victoria didn't attend after the death of Prince Albert, ever since then we have.

I think Charles and William will attend more when Charles becomes King and William is a fully fledged royal. This is the most prestigious race meet in Europe at one of the most expensive grounds it would be silly to miss out on such an event that they could attend.

It is however not an annual engagement, but more of an annual event similar to The Order of The Garter ceremony of Trooping The Colour, it's happened so often it won't stop. :flowers:
 
I would hope that there is still a significant royal presence. Perhaps Anne will take the lead on hosting the Royal Box during Ascot week wth C&C and others coming 1-2 days schedules permitting.
 
I don't think Charles or William are as into horse racing as the Queen is. Camilla has always been a horse person so I'm sure she would go everyday when Charles is on the throne.

I wonder what'll happen to the Queen's stable of race horses when she dies? Will they go to Charles as a sovereign-to-sovereign transfer? I'm sure they would have a significant value. Maybe to Anne given her interest in racing? If Charles inherits his mothers horses I'd guess he'll try to keep it going and continue the tradition of having royal winners at Ascot.

Remember that Ascot is actually owned by the Crown Estate. So, technically, you could say the Queen owns the whole thing.
 
You said it, Michelle. I'm pretty sure there's a couple of good golf courses in the area that the Crown owns too. So you've got Windsor Castle, the race course, golf courses, lots of beautiful parkland, all within easy distance of London. No wonder it's the Queen's favourite home!
 
I'm sure it's a happy moment that the Queen and DoE will remember for a long time. :D
 
Lovely picture of the Duke giving the Queen the award.

Evidently, this is the first time he's been the one to hand her the prize. After nearly 65 years, there are still firsts.:)


She's not even looking at the prize - she is just looking at him and is so so happy. Says everything about how she feels.
 
How lovely for HM to have a win, and for Philip to present the prize! They look so happy together in these pictures
 
After all the years of bestowing honors and awards to other people, it must have been so refreshing for HM to be on the receiving end herself. The fact that it was presented to her by her husband of nearly 65 years makes it so much sweeter and meaningful I'd think.
 
She's not even looking at the prize - she is just looking at him and is so so happy. Says everything about how she feels.

Yep. I noticed that, too. She was beaming at him. The look between them did say it all.
 
After all the years of bestowing honors and awards to other people, it must have been so refreshing for HM to be on the receiving end herself. The fact that it was presented to her by her husband of nearly 65 years makes it so much sweeter and meaningful I'd think.

Oh, I completely agree with you. This will probably be a moment that will rank pretty high on her list of sentimental memories :D.
 
So, Black Caviar won the Diamond Jubilee Stakes in unconvincing fashion. We've been led to believe that this horse would leave the opposition for dead, but if that race had been 3 feet longer it'd probably have finished 3rd.

The Queen's looking lovely in green and blue today.
 
Celebrated Australian filly Black Caviar has won the Diamond Jubilee Stakes, making this her 22nd consecutive win. She raced at 12:45 AEST.

A very close race but a wonderful achievement nonetheless.

I liked that her trainer Peter Moody made comment about there being 'two Queen's of Australia'. My sentiments exactly!

So, Black Caviar won the Diamond Jubilee Stakes in unconvincing fashion. We've been led to believe that this horse would leave the opposition for dead, but if that race had been 3 feet longer it'd probably have finished 3rd.

If? Seems rather pointless talking of 'if'. She won, she is a champion and I fail to see any reason to undermine the achievement. Yes it was an exceptionally close race and her rider went on to elaborate that he failed to adequately gage the track. As a jockey, I believe he was dissapointed in his performance.
 
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I'm not undermining the achievement. Merely pointing out that the horse was losing ground to its competitors fast, most of whom had been fancied by no-one. Black Caviar just didn't look like the greatest horse that ever lived today. Of course his camp will make excuses for his disappointing run to try and maintain their very lucrative brand, but this was its big opportunity on the world stage to really wow an international audience, and it didn't really happen. I think all the hype about how many lengths she would win by, with some saying it would be at least 5 or 6, didn't exactly help.

Frankel has been the star of a truly memorable Royal Ascot this year. He not only won the Queen Anne, but he completely obliterated the field winning a top quality contest by eleven lengths. That's why he's the highest-rated racehorse in the world.
 
:previous:
According to DM, this was Black Caviar's 22nd consecutive victory which sounds pretty impressive to me. Black Caviar has been odds-on favourite in every one of her races since she won on début at Flemington in April, 2009. She is also the second-highest-rated thoroughbred in the world behind Frankel (the winner of the Queen Anne Stakes on Tuesday). The jockey did make a mistake at the end of the race - but the horse was still magnificent.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/ra...Black-Caviar-wins-Diamond-Jubilee-Stakes.html
 
One of the commentators mentioned seeing Princess Eugenie caught up in the crush of people rushing to the winner's enclosure to see Black Caviar. I'm taking that with a grain of salt since A) I haven't yet seen pictures of Eugenie at Royal Ascot today and B) these are the same commentators who said the Duchess of Cornwall isn't really royal since she's "just a duchess."

But if it's true, it's interesting to see that Eugenie is attending nearly every day of the meet and seems to have inherited her granny's interest in horses.
 
:previous:
According to DM, this was Black Caviar's 22nd consecutive victory which sounds pretty impressive to me. Black Caviar has been odds-on favourite in every one of her races since she won on début at Flemington in April, 2009. She is also the second-highest-rated thoroughbred in the world behind Frankel (the winner of the Queen Anne Stakes on Tuesday). The jockey did make a mistake at the end of the race - but the horse was still magnificent.
Royal Ascot 2012: Black Caviar wins Diamond Jubilee Stakes | Mail Online

Winning 22 successive races is impressive, no doubt about that. But, the way people talked about this horse was as if it would win the Diamond Jubilee at a canter and that just didn't happen. We saw all kinds of predictions from the British and Australian press suggesting that she would win without breaking a sweat, that she wouldn't need to use top gear, that none of the other horses would even get close. The BBC commentators said before hand that Black Caviar hadn't come to just win the race, but to dominate the competition.

It won the race fair and square; but I certainly didn't feel watching it that this was the greatest racehorse ever, as we were led to believe. Just that it was a good horse, marginally better than the others.
 
Winning 22 successive races is impressive, no doubt about that. But, the way people talked about this horse was as if it would win the Diamond Jubilee at a canter and that just didn't happen. We saw all kinds of predictions from the British and Australian press suggesting that she would win without breaking a sweat, that she wouldn't need to use top gear, that none of the other horses would even get close. The BBC commentators said before hand that Black Caviar hadn't come to just win the race, but to dominate the competition.

It won the race fair and square; but I certainly didn't feel watching it that this was the greatest racehorse ever, as we were led to believe. Just that it was a good horse, marginally better than the others.

Regarding the horse discussion - Black Caviar is a mare, 22 wins in a row is sensational, compared to Frankel's 11 (a colt). Black Caviar has won against male opposition more that once. I dont want to take anything away from Frankel, he's great horse, but to travel to Ascot from the other end of the world must be daunting for an animal and she still delivered, on an unknown track and not being used to soft ground. The jockey messed up, too, eased her up too early. And, as an owner, especially as an aussie owner, you really have to have guts to do what he did, possibly getting slandered by the pommies.

Nobody said Black Caviar would crush the opposition (apart from the media) but being bullish is part of the trade.
 
Personally Black Caviar's race was more entertaining, it was an actual race where as Frankel just won. No competition at all.
 
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