“Ev’ry duke and earl and peer is here; Ev’ryone who should be here is here.” —“Ascot Gavotte,” My Fair Lady
Race: Royal Ascot Races
History: Dates back to 1711
Location: Ascot, England
Racetrack: Ascot Racecourse
Date: June—a five-day event with six races per day. The first day is always a Tuesday.
Highlight: Day 3 (Ladies’ Day) and the Royal Ascot Gold Cup, the week’s longest race.
A Royal Affair: The queen and her entourage usually attend Ascot, and there is a royal procession every day at 2:00 pm. (People at the race even place bets on what color the queen’s outfit will be each day.)
•In the Royal Enclosure, gentlemen must wear full morning dress and top hats. Women may not show midriffs or bare shoulders, and hats are compulsory.
•Ascot even has a dress code for general-admission attendees: women are required “to dress in a manner appropriate to a smart occasion.” Gentlemen must wear a shirt and tie, preferably with a suit or jacket. Strictly forbidden: sportswear, jeans, and shorts. Another seating area with a less formal atmosphere states, “Whilst we encourage race goers to wear smart clothing, no formal dress code applies.”
•Eating is one of the best-loved traditions at Ascot. During the 2003 event, attendees consumed 6,000 lobsters, 120,000 bottles of champagne, and 4.5 tons of strawberries with 550 gallons of cream.
•Queen Elizabeth is a horse owner, breeder, and avid Ascot fan. Her horses participate in the race, and her jockeys wear purple silks with scarlet sleeves. Best-selling author Dick Francis was once one of the queen’s jockeys.
•To get into Ascot’s Royal Enclosure (where the queen and her guests sit), visitors need to be sponsored by someone who has a Royal Enclosure badge.
New Jersey native John Batterson Stetson invented the hat named for him in the 1860s. By 1900, he had the largest hat-making factory in the world. Stetsons became especially popular with cowboys because they were comfortable and handy: some men even used them to scoop water.