Racing is all around the world - and we don't know the half of it

Let's say you're a seasoned racegoer who has been to a good number of tracks in Britain and Ireland and perhaps you were at the Cheltenham Festival last week. So you know what racing looks like, with plenty of tweed and the Guinness village, seven races per card and the participants emerging quietly from somewhere at 40-minute intervals.

Then you get on a plane to Argentina – perhaps you've won tickets in a competition. A taxi takes you to Hipódromo Argentino de Palermo in the north of Buenos Aires, with its imposing, white stone entrance buildings. You're in for some culture shock.

"In Argentina, you get 20-plus races every day," says Nick Smith, whose role as director of racing at Ascot has taken him around the world. "They don't serve alcohol at all, because over there they have an issue with alcohol and betting. So that's 20 races and no alcohol, an interesting model.