Royal Ascot plays strong hand to underpin meeting’s continuing success

There were a host of memorable performances and races over the course of Royal Ascot, from Field Of Gold’s electrifying surge away from his field in the St James’s Palace Stakes to the high-speed duel to the line between Lazzat and Japan’s Satono Reve in the Jubilee on Saturday but, in one sense at least, the race emblematic of an almost flawless five days in the sun was the Queen Alexandra Stakes, the quirky but traditional closing event.

The race itself was not overly dramatic, but then, a two and three-quarter mile race for an assortment of second-tier stayers and hurdlers rarely is. Yet the noise that swept through the stands as Ryan Moore sent Sober, the 4-5 favourite, into a clear lead two furlongs out was as loud and excited as it had been for the closing stages of the Group One sprint two and a half hours earlier.

Saturday’s crowd of 71,073 was a 2.6% rise on last year, completing a full set of rising attendance across the five days for the second year in a row. The total attendance of just over 285,000 was just below 5% above last year’s figure, and the fact that all but a handful of the final day crowd were still there for the Queen Alexandra tells its own story. While other showpiece venues like Cheltenham and Epsom are struggling to maintain attendances at their main events, Royal Ascot’s racegoers just can’t get enough of it.

They also buy into the whole package, from the dress code and the royal procession right through to the post-racing sing-song around the bandstand. There was some fun to be had for sure when a few racegoers were forced to invest in a pair of socks in order to get into the track, but most were happy to stick to the rules and, even on a sticky day like Saturday, see it as an essential part of the event.

Good weather, of course, is a considerable boon when it comes to ensuring that everyone has a good time and makes sure to book a ticket to return next year. Royal Ascot is also an event with instant brand recognition and needs no introduction when it comes to marketing, and its close 220-year association with an unbroken line of 10 British monarchs also confers advantages that few, if any, other public events can ever hope to enjoy. But it is the track’s ability to play a strong hand impeccably, and to innovate without anyone noticing the difference, that underpins its continuing success and popularity.

Ascot, for instance, was the first track to appreciate the huge potential of the Hong Kong-based World Pool betting operation, which offered punters in Asia a chance to bet on all 35 races this year. The association is now worth millions to the track over the five days, helping to support a £10m prize fund for Royal Ascot which is not quite on a par with some of the riches available elsewhere, but still more than enough to attract all the biggest global players when added attractions like the chance to rub shoulders with royalty are factored into the equation.

Lazzat’s victory on Saturday was one of numerous memorable performances across the week. Photograph: Paul Childs/Action Images/Reuters

Four of the week’s five winners for the Emir of Qatar’s burgeoning Wathnan Racing operation were big-money recruits with the Royal meeting in mind. It was the 2024 meeting in the case of Haatem, who added the Wolferton Stakes to his win in the Jersey last year, while French Master, Humidity and Lazzat all joined during a seven-figure spree in recent weeks.

Along with Wathnan Racing, the familiar powerhouses of Coolmore, Godolphin and Juddmonte all made trips to the winner’s enclosure during the week too, and almost unlimited wealth will always give the biggest racing and bloodstock operations an edge. But it is still not a cast-iron guarantee of success. The football agent Kia Joorabchian’s Amo Racing operation went on a similar splurge to Wathnan’s in the run-up to the meeting, and also at the big yearling sales last autumn, but went home empty handed.

In the Group One events so, too, did Aidan O’Brien, as Harry Eustace, Jim Goldie and Joseph Murphy, all registered their first wins at the highest level and took home half of the eight Group Ones between them. Lazzat was a first Royal winner for Jérôme Reynier in Saturday’s feature, and while John and Thady Gosden picked up the other three Group Ones, Eve Johnson Houghton, Paddy Twomey and the leading jumps trainer Henry de Bromhead also had wins in the supporting events.

Another face that is far more familiar from the winter code had two winners, and Willie Mullins’s career total of a dozen Royal victories now puts him joint 10th with Wesley Ward among trainers with a current licence. It is one more reminder that the Royal meeting retains its essential ability to grow and evolve, yet all the while remain, superficially at least, as serenely unchanging as ever.