Category: Big Races

Why was Royal Ascot postponed in 1955?

On May 28, 1955, the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen (ASLEF) called a national rail strike, which would not be called off until June 14, when pay rises were awarded. On May 31, following a meeting of the Privy Council at Balmoral Castle, the Queen declared a state of emergency, with emergency regulations coming into force the following day.

As a result of the unrest, Trooping the Colour – which celebrates the ‘official’ birthday of the Sovereign, on the second Saturday in June – was cancelled altogether and, for the first time in living memory, Royal Ascot was postponed until mid-July. The meeting was scheduled for Tuesday to Friday, as usual, but with a different running order, to allow horses that ran in the King Edward VII Stakes or Hardwicke Stakes on the Tuesday to also run in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes on the following Saturday, if so desired.

Unfortunately, one of the consequences of moving the Royal Meeting from its traditional slot in the calendar was that the opening day, July 12, was the hottest day of the year. After two days of extreme heat, described by racegoers as ‘insufferable’, on July 14 Ascot Racecourse was struck by a violent thunderstorm, bringing lightning and torrential local rainfall. Tragedy struck when lightning went to ground through metal rails close to a refreshment tent opposite the Royal Enclosure. Dozens of people were injured, two fatally, and racing was abandoned after the fourth race.

Which trainer has won the Gold Cup at Ascot most often?

The Gold Cup – often referred to as the ‘Ascot Gold Cup’, to distinguish it from similarly-titled races, such as the Ayr Gold Cup or Cheltenham Gold Cup – is run over an advertised distance of 2 miles 4 furlongs as has been a fixture of the Royal Meeting at Ascot, traditionally staged in mid-June, since 1807. In its long, illustrious history, a total of 22 horses have won the Gold Cup at least twice, but the most successful of all, so far, was Yeats, who won four consecutive renewals between 2006 and 2009.

Yeats was trained by Aidan O’Brien and, perhaps not altogether surprisingly, the current ‘Master of Ballydoyle’ is the most successful trainer in the history of the Gold Cup. Since Yeats, whom O’Brien hailed as ‘an unbelievable horse’, the training legend has saddled three more winners of the Gold Cup, for a career total of seven.

In 2011, the 5-year-old Fame And Glory, ridden by Jamie Spencer, justified favouritism with a clear-cut, 3-length win over Opinion Poll. In 2014, the 4-year-old Leading Light, ridden by Joseph O’Brien, son of the trainer, did likewise, but only just prevailed in a driving finish. In 2016, another 4-year-old, Order Of St. George, ridden by Ryan Moore, was again sent off favourite and ran out an impressive, 3-length winner from Mizzou. Indeed, the same horse started favorite again in 2018 and went agonisingly close to winning again, losing out by a short head to Big Orange.

When was the Lincoln Handicap last run at Lincoln Racecourse?

Inaugurated, as the Lincoln Spring Handicap Stakes, in 1853, when it was run over a mile-and-a-half, the race that would eventually become the Lincoln Handicap was shortened to a mile in 1855 and renamed the Lincolnshire Handicap four years later. Apart from interruptions for World War I and World War II, the race was staged at Lincoln Racecourse, on the Carholme, or West Common, west of Lincoln city centre, every year until 1964. At that point, the Horserace Betting Levy Board withdraw its subsidy from Lincoln Racecourse, causing its closure, and the newly-christened Lincoln Handicap was transferred permanently to Doncaster Racecourse.

From its inception until the advent of all-weather racing in 1989, the Lincoln Handicap traditionally marked the start of the Flat season. Nowadays, Flat racing is staged all year round, but in its heyday, in the interwar years, the Lincolnshire Handicap was one of the highlights of the year, attracting more interest than the whole of the Cheltenham Festival. Coupled with the Grand National, which was run within a week or so, as the so-called ‘Spring Double’, the Lincolnshire Handicap was phenomenally popular which, now that it has become just another handicap, is probably difficult for modern racegoers to imagine.

Which Group One races are run at Royal Ascot?

Which Group One races are run at Royal Ascot? Royal Ascot is, of course, a highlight of the British sporting and social calendar. Remarkably, though, as recently as 1999, the Royal Meeting featured just three highest category, Group One races. Those races were the St. James’s Palace Stakes, Gold Cup and Coronation Stakes.

However, in the interim, several races have gained, or regained, Group One status and, in 2015, Royal Ascot was extended from four days to five to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. At that point, a new Group One race, the Commonwealth Cup, run over six furlongs and restricted to three-year-olds, was added to the programme, making a total of eight in all.

In addition to the aforementioned races, the Prince of Wales’s Stakes was upgraded to Group One status in 2000, as were the Diamond Jubilee Stakes, formerly the Cork & Orrery Stakes, in 2002 and the Queen Anne Stakes in 2003. In 2005, the King’s Stand Stakes, which had previously held Group One status between 1973 and 1988, before being downgraded, became part of the so-called ‘Global Sprint Challenge’. As such, the five-furlong contest attracted a strong international entry, as a result of which it was upgraded to Group One status again in 2008.

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