“ROYAL” ASCOT

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXV, Issue 18612, 7 July 1930, Page 16

“ROYAL” ASCOT

WHERE MAYFAIR GOES RACING. THE EXCLUSIVE ENCLOSURE. (By Horace Wyndham). If the Derby is for the “masses,” the Ascot meeting, which is alwvs held just two weeks later, is emphatically for the “classes.” Mayfair, indeed, regards the programme very much as ics private preserve; and is a little apt to resent the fact that anybody else should want to appear on the heath among its blue-blooded exclusiveness. It was George IV. who started that popular Ascot feature, the “Royal Procession,” driving in State carriages, with an escort of outriders from Windsor Castle. Being ambitious to win the Ascot Cup, he paid the then colossal sum of 4000gns for the Colonel. His colours, however, were lowered by Lord Chesterfield’s Zinganee. Thereupon. His Majesty bought Zinganee. and entered him for the Cup in 1933. But it was not a good bargain, as he finished behind all the field. William IV.. the “Sailor King ” did most of his racing as the Duke of Clarence. That he was not well up in turl matters is clear from the fact that, when his trainer inquired which of his stud he would like to run at Ascot, he answered in nautical fashion: “Damm°. you landlubber, send down the whole fleet! Some of ’em are sure to win.” Queen Victoria first attended Ascot in 1840; and every meeting since then has been witnessed by members of the Royal Family. Ascot Happenings. There have been many curious incidents in the history of Ascot. At an early Ascot the official starter was the huntsman of the Royal Buckhounds. On giving the signal in one event, no jockey would move, as each of them had been “squared” to lose, and was waiting for his rival to go off first. On another occasion, the starter, finding that the field was not trying, cantered after them on his hack, and reached the winning post several lengths ahead. There are other stains on Ascot’s ’scutcheon; and sinister happenings have darkened its fair repute. Even Royalty has not always been received too well there; and it is on record that the little Princess Alexandrina (afterwards to become Queen Victoria) was. on the occasion of her fiirst visit with her parents, “shocked to hear a nobleman utter an oath.” But perhaps the offender had backed the wrong horse. Still, much worse befell William IV. As His Majesty was driving up to the Royal Box, a Waterloo veteran in the crowd threw a brick at him. It appears that, having some little grievance about his pension, he adopted this unconstitutional method of airing it. Such an action being high treason, the assailant was condemned to be hanged, drawn and quartered. He was. however, spared the gallows, for. the doctors reporting him to be mad, he was sent to Bedlam. The Ascot of 1913 also provided a first-class sensation. This was contributed by a man named Hewitt —an exHarrovian, as it happened—who deliberately rushed out and threw himself in front of the horses while theGold Cup was being run. He was evidently a lunatic, since he declared in hospital (where he had to be treated for a fractured skull) that his conduct was “intended to show his sympathy with the Suffragettes.”

But of all the “sensations” connected with Ascot, the one that stands out most prominent is the theft of the Gold Cup in 1907. In some mysterious fashion, that even Messrs Maskelyne and Cook could not have eclipsed, it vanished into thin air from under the very eyes of its guardians. Nor. from that day to this, has it ever been seen again. The Gold Cup was founded by the Duke of Cumberland in 1771, and the original subscription was only five guineas. Its value is now £SOO, and a subscription of £2O each entry is added. At the Ascot of 1876 the Cup was carried off by Petrarch, in the joint ownership of Lord Dupplin and Colonel Oliphant, of the Guards. The latter had been brought up to become a Presbyterian minister. Finding, however, that he took more interest in military than in clerical matters, and was fonder of racing than preaching, his parents very sensibly allowed him to adopt a career in which he could gratify these predilections. At the 1876 Ascot it was discovered, just before going to the starting post that his jockey was not carrying the correct weight. Thereupon, Colonel Oliphant rushed out to the Royal Enclosure and tore down the course, in top hat and frock coat, shouting furiously to have Petrarch stopped. It was just as well that he was in time to do so, as, when the weights were corrected, his horse won.

Another absent-minded owner was Lord Hartington, afterwards Duke of Devonshire. At a certain Ascot he entered a chestnut, Corunna. As this horse was leading the field in a race, he turned to a friend and blandly demanded, “Which is Corunna?” When the winner was pointed out to him, he remarked, “Yes. I recognise him now by his four white legs. He is the only horse in all my stable that I can recognise.” The Royal Enclosure. It is because Ascot is “Royal” that there is a "Royal Enclosure” there. This is a sort of Holy of Holies, to which everybody wants to gain admission. Yet. with a view to keeping it "exclusive,” not more than one applicant in twenty is successful. The theory being that the ’‘Enclosure” is reserved for the personal friends and acquaintances of the Sovereign, nobody is admitted there without a “badge” from Viscount Churchill, the Steward of Ascot. It is not to be had for the mere asking, and candidates have to prove that they are really “somebody.” Hence, one finds within the jealously guarded gates the acknowledged heads of the worlds of society, art, letters, and sport, together with distinguished soldiers and sailors, civil servants and politicians, etc. For the rest, a man is expected to have attended a Levee, and a woman to have been presented at Court. Should a ticket for the Royal Enclosure be granted, it has to be surrendered for a “badge," on which is inscribed the bearer’s name. These “badges” have to be worn conspicuously and any “trafficking” in them would, if detected, call down severe reprisals on the offender. Admission also means subscribing to certain unwritten rules. Thus, on no accouht is anybody allowed to stand on a chair; a woman must not make a bet (except through a masculine escort); and. should one of them venture to indulge in a cigarette, a shocked official will peremptorily demand her cherished “badge” and require her to leave this part of the course.