No preview nights, no endless build-up, no entries in some cases - and Royal Ascot is all the better for it
By the time you read this, the full list of entries for Tuesday's opening card at Royal Ascot will have landed. Just about.
In an era when society demands to know everything all of the time, it's a relic of a bygone culture that we can get to the eve of Flat racing's most illustrious carnival and still be scrabbling around for who might turn up. As I write this, apart from next week's Group 1s, the only other entries available six days out are for four Group 2 races and two handicaps, the Hunt Cup and the Wokingham.
Can you imagine the palaver if a similar scenario were imposed ahead of the Cheltenham Festival these days? How has generation social media allowed this outrageous, antiquated curiosity to prevail?
Read the full story
Read award-winning journalism from the best writers in racing, with exclusive news, interviews, columns, investigations, stable tours and subscriber-only emails.
Subscribe to unlock
- Racing Post digital newspaper (worth over £100 per month)
- Award-winning journalism from the best writers in racing
- Expert tips from the likes of Tom Segal and Paul Kealy
- Replays and results analysis from all UK and Irish racecourses
- Form study tools including the Pro Card and Horse Tracker
- Extensive archive of statistics covering horses, trainers, jockeys, owners, pedigree and sales data
Already a subscriber?Log in
Published on inRichard Forristal
Last updated
Copy- Winners identifying as maidens? Ireland's bizarre new academy hurdles initiative is impossible to fathom
- Jack Kennedy's latest grim misfortune is a massive blow to Gordon Elliott - and there's no Davy Russell to call upon this time
- Outstanding weekend highlights prove that change is good - even if it wasn't quite a revolution
- An act of Henderson's revered sorcery is about all we have left to cling to after Constitution Hill's underwhelming gallop at Newbury
- Long-awaited report into IHRB scandal makes one thing absolutely clear - the whole situation stinks
- Winners identifying as maidens? Ireland's bizarre new academy hurdles initiative is impossible to fathom
- Jack Kennedy's latest grim misfortune is a massive blow to Gordon Elliott - and there's no Davy Russell to call upon this time
- Outstanding weekend highlights prove that change is good - even if it wasn't quite a revolution
- An act of Henderson's revered sorcery is about all we have left to cling to after Constitution Hill's underwhelming gallop at Newbury
- Long-awaited report into IHRB scandal makes one thing absolutely clear - the whole situation stinks