The royal link has endured ever since. Today, Queen Elizabeth II and members of the Royal Family attend the world-famous āRoyal Ascotā meeting each year, arriving in a horse drawn carriage. Royal Ascot, meanwhile, has earned iconic status as a centrepiece of the social calendar, when the worldās best thoroughbreds face fierce competition from the worldās most extravagant fashion designs.
Ascot, which underwent a Ā£200 million redevelopment between 2004-6, also hosts the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes sponsored by QIPCO in July, the most prestigious open-age Flat race staged in Britain.
It will also host the inaugural QIPCO British Champions Day in October which will be the richest raceday ever staged in Britain with over Ā£4.2m in prize money and the climax to the QIPCO British Champions Series. Ā Including the five category finales on QIPCO British Champions Day, Ascot stages no less than 13 of the 35 QIPCO British Champions Series races.
What sort of horses like Ascot? Horses that like right-handed courses. And what sort of people? People who like champagne and scones, apparently. During the five-day Royal Ascot meeting in 2010, 60,000 bottles of champagne and 40,000 scones were consumed. Lobsters, meanwhile, donāt like Royal Ascot – 1,500 of them were eaten over that same period.
