The Ying and Yang Of Ascot

What a week?

Five days racing in a normally sleepy Berkshire town gave us the whole gamut of racing emotions.

Exciting, pulsating finishes.

Beaten hotshots.

Estimate wins the Gold Cup

Emotional victories for Jane Cecil and The Queen on the same afternoon, with racing on the front pages for all the right reasons the following day.

Thomas Chippendale beats Dandino

Then, 48 hours later, the horrible lows that can sometimes hit this sport of ours when in a 2½ minute period we saw the benefit of plastic rails as Paul Hanagan came off Ektihaam, followed by a thrilling battle to the line with Thomas Chippendale bravely out battling the equally brave Dandino, only for the valiant winner to collapse and die shortly after the line.

Yes Royal Ascot is a special meeting and one that always manages to stir the emotions. For me it is the very best domestic flat meeting of the year, possibly in the world and the only other flat meeting coming near to it in my view is the October meeting at Longchamp and if the Froggies had not had the revolution it would undoubtedly now be known as Longchamp Royale.

Whilst Royal Ascot may be the best meeting in terms of quality it is also the worse meeting of the year for me in terms of working.

It is the most frustrating, difficult meeting of the entire year to cover and after five days I am frazzled, indeed I’m usually flagging fast after day three.

View from the Press Room Balcony

The irony is Ascot is, by far, the best course to work at any other of their meetings. It has a well-equipped press room, with a viewing balcony offering fantastic views, second only to Epsom.

An escalator immediately next to the press room makes it easy to get down to the parade ring and weighing room.

It’s an absolute delight.

The Royal meeting is so different.

Clearly there is much more press interest in the Royal meeting, both domestically and internationally so an accreditation system is used.

Basically a similar system to the meeting itself is used. The “elite” get to use the main press room, the remainder of the racing media are sent to the “media centre” in the bowels of the grandstand whilst the non-racing snappers are consigned to what is normally the Ascot Children's Nursery over in Car Park Two.

Now in theory that sounds a reasonable system, but in reality it isn’t that simple. As with the Royal Enclosure it’s who you know, not what you know that’s important.

Like God, Ascot moves in mysterious ways in terms of allocating the valuable space in the main press room. Of course the “glory boys (and girls)” from the National press are afforded prime positions, whether they actually need the space or not. These are the prima-donnas who suddenly appear at the big meetings and strut around the place as if they own it.

I wonder how many of them would pass what I call the Fakenham test?

The test comes in two stages.

Stage one is, if given a map of the United Kingdom, would they know where Fakenham actually is?

Stage two, having actually located Fakenham on the map, how often have they gone racing there?

Of course you could replace Fakenham with any of the so called “minor courses” – the point is most of the national racing correspondents wouldn’t be seen dead at a smaller course but they expect to be treated with respect and kow-towed to at the big meetings.

I would stress at this point my criticism is not aimed at all national correspondents, just a significant number of them. 

Some of the correspondents, like Alan Lee of The Times in particular, do frequent the smaller tracks, even Fakenham and there are a handful of others who regularly appear at "smaller" meetings.

Something that really surprises me is the number of racing journalists who have been covering the sport for decades yet they still have not visited all the courses in the UK – I find that really incredulous.

By the way, in case you are thinking I’m simply envious of the national racing correspondents, nothing could be further from the truth. There is no way on this earth I would want to work for a newspaper or broadcaster and be beholden to the whims and views of an editor or proprietor.

Indeed I would rather be on the streets and starve than work for anything that is part of the Murdoch empire, which would rule out a fair proportion of the national media.

I like being my own boss and my own editor.

As one national correspondent once said to me “I envy you as you can actually write you want and what you really believe, I don’t always have that freedom."         

Even more annoying about the allocation of places in the main press room though is the number of people who should, frankly, not be there. Notably the retired and the hangers on, who are not working, not filing copy but are taking up space that could be used by working journalists and reporters.

Ascot Media Centre

The lesser mortals of the racing press are confined to the media centre. Now that is an adequate working environment. It’s very cramped and windowless but we have a work area and we (normally) have working wi-fi and a bank of televisions showing C4, ATR and Ascot TV.

That should be enough I hear you say, for most it is but for some of us it isn’t. For example we have no access to the parade ring so seeing the runners before the race is very tricky. There are around half a dozen of us who try to provide paddock reports but we cannot get near the paddock.

Annoyingly there is an area just outside the media centre which is right beside the parade ring, an area hardly used, yet those of us who need to view the runners are denied access. So the paddock pickers have to either fight their way through the crowds to try and get a view of the runners or catch the runners on the horse walk as they come out. Neither is satisfactory.

The other problem is reporting on the races. Those of us with the blue badges are allowed on the press room viewing balcony to view the racing, which is good and better than we have at Cheltenham. However we that have to report on the race based on the one single viewing as, amazingly, the media centre has no facilities for recording races for later reviewing,  unlike the in main press room.

Now I can probably do a reasonable account of an incident free 12 runner contest on a single viewing. However for something like the Hunt Cup trying to write anything coherent about the race on a single viewing through bins is nigh on impossible.

Indeed I don’t even bother trying to do a coherent write-up on the big field races any more but that's ridiculous when you are supposed to be reporting on the races.

After the meeting each year we’re asked for our feedback about the facilities and every year the same concerns are raised but is anything done about it – of course not.

Fakenham Press Room

Is it really too much for a racing reporter to ask for facilities to view the runners in the parade ring or a facility to record and view replays of the races?      

This week I’m back to the "bread and butter" racing.

The setting may not be so grand, the quality not so high, the press rooms will be more basic but, at least, I’ll be able to see the runners in the parade ring and be able to watch as many replays of a race as I need.

Champions Day & Channel Four Presenters

There are, I admit, times when I’m standing in the pouring rain, on a wet Monday afternoon with a couple of hundred other racegoers when I wonder why I bother following this sport of horse racing.

Then again there are days, like last Saturday, when I know there is nowhere in the world I would rather be. 

I’m referring, of course, to British Champion’s Day at Ascot last Saturday, where I experienced one of the best atmospheres at a racecourse ever. For one it seemed over 90% of those present were actually there for the racing.

Although there were five championship races most were there to see the one race, indeed the one horse, the mighty Frankel who was there to make his last appearance on a racecourse.

However it almost didn’t happen as the wet weather threatened the horses participation in the race and was dependent on connections walking the course on Saturday morning.

As Racing For Change’s Rod Street put it to me afterwards it was “squeaky bum time” – imagine the sense of anti-climax has Frankel not run.

Both the pre-parade ring and parade ring were surrounded by massive crowds wanting to get a glimpse of the unbeaten wonder horse, something that added another irony to the day.

Excelebration after winning the QEII

The race before Frankel’s was the Queen Elizabeth Stakes over the mile, the very race Frankel won last year and it was won in devastating style by the horse who has lived in Frankel’s shadow, Excelebration. A brilliant, gutsy horse in his own right who would have been an undoubted superstar had he not been of the same generation as the once in a lifetime horse.

Even on Saturday, the day he wasn’t racing against Frankel he still managed to be overshadowed and many at Ascot missed the brilliant turn of foot, reminiscent of Sea The Stars in his Arc run, which salvaged the race from a seemingly impossible position.

As Frankel entered the parade ring he was greeted by applause, not unprecedented at Ascot, what was unprecedented was the cheers and applause as he came out onto the track, although there was an amusing moment when some racegoers applauded his brother Bullet Train as he led the runners out in the second colours of the owner.

After the parade the runners set off to the start, all apart from Frankel who held back and slowly cantered past the packed stands to milk the appreciation of the fans, it was almost as if he was doing a lap of honour before the race.

Of course the race itself was heart stopping as Frankel almost fell out of the stalls, giving four to five lengths to his rivals and Ian Mongan on Bullet Train, supposedly in as the pacesetter, had to do som quick thinking to drop back and find his stablemate.

Of course the worries were unfounded and the roar of the crowd told you what was happening as he pulled upsides the defending champion Cirrus Des Aigles before edging clear to make it 14 wins from 14 races.

The crowds went mad, looking from my high vantage point you could see people running towards the rails so they could get a glimpse of the superstar.

One thing I really like though was the second and third, Cirrus Des Aigles and Nathaniel were both given a rapturous welcome back from the crowd, who appreciated what good horses they were and their contribution in making it a competitive race.

It was a brilliant atmosphere, it’s a shame it cannot be bottled.

Channel Four have finally announced their presentation team for next year, a mixed bag with some surprises.

It is, of course, no surprise Nick Luck will be there as a main presenter alongside Clare Balding. There were some surprises in the “supporting” team.

The biggest surprise for me was the inclusion of Emma Spencer, who for me is the most lightweight member of the team, both physically and as a presenter. I’m told by many that she is considered pretty and “eye-candy” although that is something I fail to see, as the saying goes beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Graham Cunningham was the surprise inclusion in the team, he’s an astute analyst not afraid to have an opinion and I can envisage some chippy exchanges with Jim McGrath and Mick Fitzgerald who will be the other paddock commentators.

The dropping of John McCririck has sparked some debate but it cannot really be a major surprise, he really is past his sell-by date and, unfortunately he has become a caricature of himself.  His rant at being omitted from the line-up exemplifies why he was omitted.

Three of the other droppings from the team are more questionable.

Alastair Down isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, like an avuncular Uncle, sometimes tetchy he wasn’t really a TV natural but his way with words and his passion for national hunt racing was unsurpassed.

Mike Cattermole is a very accomplished presenter and a very decent chap, as demonstrated by his very graceful reaction to his not being included in the line-up (Take note McCririck) and I think his omission is a mistake especially when Spencer is being retained.

The dropping of Derek Thompson is also something of a mystery, yes he is a Marmite man, but from a TV producers perspective he is an absolute Godsend. He will do the interviews nobody else wants to, he can get across the atmosphere and work the crowd and, most importantly from a TV production perspective if you need somebody to fill for 23 seconds he will give you exactly 23 seconds, not a second more, not a second less.

This brings us onto the other Marmite character, Matt Chapman – who isn’t in the team. This may come as a surprise but I am slightly disappointed by this.

Yes I know I have been Matt’s biggest critic over the years but a “tamed” Matt would have been a good addition to the team.

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, when he plays it straight Matt is one of the best interviewers we have in the sport, he can get even the most reluctant of trainers to open up.

However Matt is his own worse enemy in that he tries to be controversial, he always denies this, but he does and it is so frustrating. If he could just calm himself, reign himself in, he would have been a shoe-in for a Channel Four role and a great addition to the team – it’s a terrible waste.

It’s good to see Simon Holt and Richard Hoiles will continue to be in the team, Richard once again showed why he is head and shoulders our best commentator with his excellent call of Frankel’s race as Ascot.

I am also disappointed there is no role for Stewart Machin in the line-up.

Don't Let The Facts Get In The Way Of Your Predjudices

It has been an interesting weekend in racing after Ascot’s attempt to remind racegoers about their dress code spectacularly backfired.

It was an episode that did damage to Ascot but in my view it was more telling in revealing the true nature of many in the racing press, revealing an underbelly of hypocrisy and vitriol.

Indeed the whole affair is a classic example of certain members of the press, who have their own agendas, making a volcano out of a molehill.

Let’s begin by taking the emotion out of the events and look at the cold facts – I realise many will not actually like hearing the facts as it will contradict their nasty, pernicious prejudices.

Ascot has introduced a stricter dress code for 2012 which, for the Premier Enclosure, states:-

Gentlemen should wear a jacket and tie, smart trousers or smart jeans, no trainers. There will be an announcement on the day allowing jackets to be removed, should the weather be hot. Ladies should dress for a smart occasion; hats are encouraged but not compulsory.  Children should be dressed smartly.  

Saturday’s meeting was the first to use the new dress code. Now Ascot could easily have turned away racegoers who did not comply with the new code but instead took the decision to advise racegoers who did not adhere to the code.

Once a racegoer had been advised of the new code a sticker was placed on their badge to indicate they had been advised. The sole purpose of the sticker was to indicate the racegoer had been advised so that stewards would constantly be stopping the racegoer throughout the afternoon.

One can understand the reasoning behind the approach. Now we all know hindsight is wonderful but Ascot clearly did not take account of the fact there were people who would exploit the situation to suit their own particular prejudices.

A significant number of the racing media and media in general  are what I would call Champagne Socialists, the sort of people who despise Ascot and all they perceive it stands for, yet they are more than happy to live what many would call privileged lives and, of course, accept Ascot’s generous hospitality.

For them this was a dream story, the type of story which would appeal to their chums in Islington as well as the poor oppressed “working classes” whom they profess to support but would never be seen dead with.

Of course social media like Twitter allows stories like this to gather legs as well, and it was soon a trending topic.

The trouble with social media is it allows stories to disseminate unchecked, the facts are the first to suffer and it is the extreme views which get picked up on.

Very soon there were Tweets flying around comparing Ascot’s stickering of racegoers with the labelling of Jews in Nazi Germany.

I would like to think I am thick skinned and there is very little which offends me. However having a Jewish antecedence and having relatives caught up in the Holocaust I found those comparisons deeply offensive.

However this error of judgement by Ascot gave our leftie media friends a perfect opportunity to stick the boot into elitist Ascot.

Even the Racing Post managed to report the matter emotively, its Editor Bruce Millington declared it “a hugely important story.”

It is not an important story, to quote Aussie Jim McGrath it is a “silly season” story, it’s most likely an important story for Millington because it enables him to engage in some toff bashing.

Talking of “silly season” what was with those stupid orange stickers they wore on ATR yesterday morning – were they trying to make some kind of point – to me it was simply a puerile, pathetic, immature cheap stunt.  

You only have to look at Tweets and forums to see this has little to do with dress codes but has more to do with class prejudice. The politics of envy is still rife in the 21^st century.

Turning back to the original issue I personally welcome Ascot’s stricter dress code and I wish more courses would have similar codes.

 It has nothing to do, as some will claim, with exclusion. Even at Ascot racegoers who do not wish to wear a suit or tie still have access to the excellent Grandstand enclosure which gives access to the parade ring and good race viewing.  In other words they have a choice.

If racegoers want to dress informally that is fine but why should they deny others the right to dress up and have an exclusive earea they can share with like-minded racegoers?

There is plenty of vitriol being aimed at Ascot yet I see none directed at, for example, Thirsk which has a strictly enforced tie rule in their Premier enclosure.

Or how about Goodwood which has a very strictly enforced dress code which includes the same notice about permission being granted to remove jackets as Ascot has.

I would not advocate a strict dress policy at all racecourses, it clearly would not work at single enclosure courses but at those which retain multiple enclosures what is wrong with having some standards?

Some say they would not be seen dead in a suit and tie, that's fine. Personally I would not be seen dead in jeans but we all have our own likes and dislikes. Why can't both sides be catered for though?

If people do not want to adhere to a strict dress code they have the option of voting with their feet, if enough do so the commercially astute courses will soon amend their dress code. 

Ascot state the rules come at the request of racegoers and the fact the Premier Enclosure at Ascot is sold out most meetings suggests there are enough racegoers who are happy to comply with dress code.

Why does it have to be dragged down to some kind of spurious class war, elitism or snobbery.

If media colleagues wish to attack Ascot that’s fine by me but if they are going to do it why don’t they front up and declare the true reason, namely a political axe to grind and ranting about their own prejudices, rather then make something out of what is in reality a non-issue.

By the way does anybody know how many orange stickers were issued on Saturday – let me tell you – it was less than 50. 

Do I, Don't I?

I have a dilemma.

A week on Saturday sees the inaugural British Champions Day at Ascot, the climax of Racing For Change’s (RfC) grand plan to add a narrative to the flat racing season.

On the one hand it promises to, probably, be the best single days flat racing staged in this country, with the added bonus of it being held at one of my favourite courses. On the other, it is in danger of turning into a form of three ring circus and from a “working” perspective it will probably be a difficult day.

Plus I have a few nagging doubts about the morality of the day.

Let me share some of my thoughts.

I have always given a cautious welcome to the Champions Day, certainly staging it at Ascot rather than Newmarket is an inspired choice. Ascot is an ideal venue in terms of facilities, location, configuration and viewing. One suggestion I would make regarding the venue for Champions Day, should it be an on-going feature, would be to consider alternating it between Ascot and York.

My main concern about Champions Day was the potential negative impact it could have on Longchamp’s Arc meeting. It could be argued some of the Group races at Longchamp this year did not have their usual strength in depth, although it is dangerous to make a judgement on the evidence of just one year.

Having seen how the day itself is being organised I have some more nagging doubts.

First of all there is the racecourse presentation which is being headed by ATR’s Matt Chapman and also includes somebody called Amanda Davies and trainer Robert Cowell.

Matt Chapman is quoted as saying, "the on track team see it as their mission to enhance the experience of regular racegoers while engaging and enlightening those less familiar with a truly great sport" – what wonderful marketing speak straight from the RfC Bible.

With an audience consisting of both hardened, experienced racegoers and newcomers that aspiration is going to be very difficult to achieve without the real risk of alienating significant sections of the audience.

In my experience regular racegoers do not want to be bombarded with constant chatter and what they consider “irrelevant” talk over the PA.

There has been a proliferation of this sort of presentation in recent years and it is questionable if it is always for the betterment of the raceday experience. I think it works better at the more family oriented meetings, not at the showcase meetings.

Some racecourses have handled this better than others. The ones who have got it right only have the presentation broadcast in certain parts of the course, thus giving racegoers the option to either opt-in or opt-out of listening to it.

Hopefully Ascot will do the same on Champions Day.   

As with the art of television commentary – less is best.

The presentation team composition is also very interesting.

I have already upset Matt Chapman in a previous epistle and I have no desire to further fan the flames today. Matt, however, is very much a Marmite™ character as far as followers of the sport are concerned and the organisers are taking a calculated gamble in using him as opposed to what could be considered a “safer” pair of hands.

Having said that, Matt is also, possibly, the one person who could actually pull this whole thing off – and this may come as a surprise - I genuinely hope he does.

As for Amanda Davies I must admit I hadn’t a clue who she is until I looked her up. It seems she is the daughter of David Davies, former BBC presenter and FA bod, and she apparently presents the sports news on the BBC News Channel. I am not aware of her having any racing pedigree and one assumes she is being wheeled out at the “token” female.

Her selection seems somewhat unfair on the, presumably more knowledgeable, females presenters who already work in racing. Is the suggestion none of these are good / pretty enough?   

Regarding Robert Cowell having never seen him in action I have no idea how suitable he is as a presenter / pundit but, again, I am surprised at the inclusion of a relative unknown in the line-up.

Time will ultimately tell and I am more than happy for my scepticism to be proven unfounded but is this really the best presentation line-up that could have been produced?

Another problem for me will be working at Champions Day.

Put simply the racing press corps can be divided into two camps, those of us who go racing most days at tracks, big and small, around the country and those who only turn up for the big meetings.

Although there are some notable exceptions, who do appear at the smaller courses day-in and day-out, most the correspondents for “The Nationals” tend to fall into the latter camp.

These are the ones who would not be seen dead at Fakenham on a wet Tuesday afternoon in November, assuming they even know where Fakenham is.

Yet they are the ones who invariably turn up at the all major meetings and then strut around the press room as if they own the place. Woe betide anybody who dares sit in “their seat” - even if they have not bothered using it the previous eight minor meetings at the course.

They are the ones who will bark at some poor employee of the racecourse “do you know who I am?” when they are faced with something that doesn’t quite go their way.

There is little more stressful than a press room full of egos.

The “morality” question stems from the financing of the day. Racing is pleading poverty, complaining about lack of money with the consequent result of ever decreasing prize money, leading to (selective) tariffs and protests. Yet racing is somehow able to stage a single days racing with prize money in excess of £3m.

OK a large amount of this money is coming from sponsorship and from Ascot but does it not sent out a confusing message about the state of racing?

Can such a huge amount of prize money be considered right in these austere times?

Does such huge prize money for six races just not enforce the generally held prejudice that racing is simply a rich man’s game?

It is akin to me complaining to all and sundry, making a really big deal of the matter, that my financial situation is such I could only afford to eat supermarket value range food. Only to then take my friends out to dine at The Fat Duck at £180 a head.  

So do I really want to spend the day working in a press room rammed full of egos, fighting for desk space, at a meeting which may well become a vaudeville show and where the prize money is arguably obscene?

Or do I want to go to Cheltenham where it will be much more sane?

Do I want to watch top draw races and the culmination of the flat racing season?

Or do I want to go to Cheltenham for what is, in effect, a low key meeting for the course?

Interestingly a number of my “day to day” racing colleagues have said they will be going to Cheltenham instead of Ascot – maybe the press room at Cheltenham will be busier than many expect.

As for me, I have not decided yet and I am still open to persuasion either way, although my car is currently parked facing west rather than south.