Ascot, founded in 1711 by Queen Anne, is the World's most famous Racecourse. It was while Queen Anne was out riding on the edge of Windsor Great Park that she noticed a natural clearing near the village of East Cote, now called Ascot.
Queen Anne ordered her Master of the Buckhounds, The Duke of Somerset, to lay out a course for horses to gallop at full stretch' and so the Royal Racecourse was born.The Queen had extra reason to celebrate Royal Ascot on Wednesday as her own horse Blueprint won comfortably in a race named after her husband. The win by a length-and-a-half in the Duke of Edinburgh Stakes netted its royal owner £27,659. Her Majesty beamed a winning smile as she walked to the winner's enclosure, mingling with fashion-conscious racegoers. The 4-1 favourite, ridden by American Gary Stevens and trained at Newmarket by Sir Michael Stoute, was her only entry on the second day of the Ascot meeting. In the Queen's purple, gold, scarlet and black racing colours, Blueprint sprinted to the front of the 18-runner field to win over one and a half miles. The triumph in the "Sport of Kings" was also enjoyed by the
98-year-old Queen Mother as the family revelled in their racing triumph. It was the
Queen's first Royal Ascot winner since 1995 when Phantom Gold won the Ribblesdale Stakes. Blueprint, who finished third at Ascot last year, now looks favourite to travel to Australia for the biggest race Down Under, the Melbourne Cup.
On Thursday shock winner was Enzeli who won the presitigious Gold Cup race. Enzeli, who was ridden by Jogn Murtagh, was set in for a bet of 20-1. The Aga Kahn (owner) and the Irish trainer were thus much pleased. Invermark came in second. Frankie Dettori's choice, last year's St Leger winner Nedawi was sent off the 7-2 favourite but he finished unplaced.
Ascot provides one of the most colourful events of the sporting and social calendar, where the competition for the most striking hat is as closely run as the racing. Flowers, frills and even a butterfly show that fashion can easily go to anyone's head. Brimming with confidence. Ascot fashion is not always about how outrageous your hat can be, sometimes a slightly more subtle approach can work wonders.
Man on the moon
Earlier, moonwalker Buzz Aldrin stood on the Ascot turf almost 30 years after he had set foot on the moon, and said he felt more at home with the space race than horseracing.
"I'm not a horseracing fan; the only race I cared about was to the moon - and I won that," he said. "The other race was beating the Soviets - and I did that as well." Buzz is in Britain with his wife Lois for next month's 30th anniversary.
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