On this date in 1711 the first race meeting was held at Ascot. 10 facts about Ascot Racecourse:
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It started with Queen Anne. She was out riding one day and found an area which looked 'ideal for Horses to gallop at full stretch'. She went on to organise a race meeting on the spot which would eventually become Ascot Racecourse. The first permanent building was not erected until 1793.
The winner of the first race was a horse called Doctor owned by the Duke of St Albans. It was 1987 before a female jockey won there – Gay Kelleway on Sprowston Boy.
While the highlight of the year is Royal Ascot in June, there are other events held there as well. In March there is a spring family race day; in July, the Summer Mile Family Raceday; The Fireworks Spectacular Family Raceday in October or November and The Christmas Family Raceday in December. These events are aimed at families and aim to instil a love of horse racing in the upcoming generation. When there is no racing going on, there are over 300 meeting rooms and over 4,000 square meters of exhibition space. It’s even possible to hold a party or wedding there with up to a thousand guests.
Royal Ascot is Britain's most valuable race meeting with prize money of just over £7.3million in 2019. It’s also the venue for the longest Flat race in Britain, namely, the Queen Alexandra Stakes – over a distance of just under two and three-quarter miles.
During the Royal meeting, over 6,500 temporary staff are taken on. This includes 2,400 cleaners working around the clock. More than 33,500 items of temporary furniture are brought in and 20,000 flowers and shrubs grown especially for the Royal Meeting. Some more statistics from Royal Ascot 2010 on the food and drink consumed by the 300,000 racegoers who typically attend each year: 35,000 strawberry scones, 35,000 rounds of Sandwiches, 30,000 eclairs, 1,400 Lobsters, 1,400 kilos of smoked Salmon, 50,000 bottles of Champagne and 8,000 bottles of Pimm’s. Typically, 400 Helicopters and 1,000 limos arrive at Royal Ascot. If you plan to turn up in a regular car, the racecourse has 13,398 parking spaces.
There’s a strict dress code for Royal Ascot, especially in the Royal Enclosure. Men are required to wear Grey, navy or Black morning dress and Top Hat, and women must wear formal daywear and a hat with a solid base of 4 inches or more in diameter. Miniskirts, shorts, bare midriffs are not allowed. The dress codes started with Beau Brummell, a close friend of the Prince Regent, who decreed that men of elegance should wear waisted black coats and white cravats with pantaloons to the Royal Meeting. The gatemen at Royal Ascot have worn Bowler hats since 1959.
In 1799, the Light Brigade was called to the racecourse from Windsor Castle when an argument over a bet developed into a full-scale riot.
Picnics in the car park are a tradition. Taking a picnic to the races has been the done thing since the 18th century but in 1912 when motorcars first arrived, loaded up with the picnic hampers, a new tradition was born. Since the 1970s it has been a tradition for racegoers to celebrate their winnings and sing favourites around the bandstand.
The racecourse has been used for filming many times including A View to a Kill (1985), and Skyfall (2012).
The racecourse covers 179 acres (72 ha) leased from the Crown Estate. It is located in Ascot, Berkshire, England, about 25 miles west of London.
The first in a new series! It has invading aliens, gladiator-style contests, rivalry and romance.
The six richest people in Britain decide to hold a contest to settle the question of which of them is most successful. It will be a gladiator style contest with each entrant fielding a team of ten super-powered combatants. Entrepreneur Llew Powell sets out to put together his team, which includes his former lover, an employee of his company with a fascinating hobby, two refugees from another dimension (a lonely giant and a drunken sailor), two sisters bound together by a promise, a diminutive doctor, a former Tibetan monk initiate and two androids with a history. As the team train together, alliances form, friendships and more develop, while others find the past is not easy to leave behind.
Meanwhile, a ruthless race of aliens has its eyes on the Earth. Already abducting and enslaving humans, they work towards the final invasion which would destroy life on Earth as we know it. Powell’s group, Combat Team Alpha, stumble upon one of the wormholes the aliens use to travel to Earth and witness for themselves the horrors in store if the aliens aren’t stopped. Barely escaping with their lives, they realise there are more important things to worry about than a fighting competition.
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