The turf: Thank God for Royal Ascot

Never have I lost so much money in a week or more enjoyed the process of doing so, at least until Mrs Oakley sees the size of the cheque I will be writing my bookmaker. Such is the competitiveness of Royal Ascot, I shall explain, that the only certainty of the week is that the Queen’s will be first of the four carriages across the line in the procession.

For sheer quality, style, panache and professionalism Royal Ascot has no rival on the Flat in Britain: it is our one true international meeting. Ten different racing nations had runners there last week with sprinters from eight countries in the King’s Stand Stakes alone including Australia, Hong Kong, the USA and Japan.

One thing that helps is that Royal Ascot, virtually alone among British race meetings, provides prize money to match the international scale. Even on unfashionable Saturday there was £750,000 to be won across the six races, an average of £125,000. It doesn’t happen elsewhere, except on rare well-sponsored days, because the shortsightedness of politicians and Jockey Club officials — and in some cases their closeness to the bookmaking fraternity — in the 1960s lost us the opportunity of funding the sport the way most other leading racing nations do with a Tote monopoly.

But the international brigade can race for purses like that at home all the time. What brings them to Ascot is the heritage of 300 years racing on a track that leading jockey Richard Hughes describes as the best in the world. ‘Whatever the ground, it offers the most beautiful surface …a horse could race from start to finish with its eyes closed.’

French trainer Robert Collet was overjoyed on Saturday with only his second Ascot success in 25 years when his filly Immortal Verse took the Coronation Stakes.