You might call it Ladies' Day - but Ascot definitely does not

Racecourses love to stage ladies' days but on the eve of what for time immemorial has been known as the most famous Ladies' Day of all, Ascot has insisted the royal meeting has no such thing - not officially, at least.

Day three of Royal Ascot is most definitely not Ladies' Day, no matter what you may have come to believe.

"It's never been marketed as Ladies' Day – that's always been a colloquialism," insisted Ascot spokesman Nick Smith.

"We don't refer to Ladies' Day ourselves and we always ask our host broadcaster to use the term 'Gold Cup day', although we aren't draconian about it and it's not a problem if it gets used."

Explaining why, Smith added: "Ladies' days are now slightly two a penny and are about best dressed-lady competitions, catwalks and ladies holding paddles.

"As days, they have connotations that don't sit well with Royal Ascot, where the fashion has always been very organic. We're keen to protect that. What everyone thinks of as a ladies' day is the opposite of what happens at Ascot."

No hat-trick for Commons shrewdies

We all know that feeling when you have work to do but there's a big race meeting on – and the Queen found herself in just such a position on Wednesday.

Her Majesty was keen to get Queen's Speech duties out of the way as quickly as possible so she could get to Ascot in plenty of time, and one MP in particular was happy to help her out.

Labour stalwart Dennis Skinner is famous for his one-liners to Black Rod on such occasions and, to much laughter from across the House of Commons, he quipped: "Get your skates on, first race is half past two!"

The Queen did no favours to the 'shrewdies' who watched the TV coverage in search of a tip.

She was dressed in blue at Westminster but those who plunged on that option in the colour-of-the-hat hat market did their dough when she turned up at Ascot in yellow.

Austin keeps motoring on

Almost half a century on from his first experience of Ascot, devoted racegoer Austin Allison reached a notable milestone on Wednesday when he celebrated his 400th visit to the sport's most famous course.

Allison, who turns 70 on June 28, made his Ascot debut as an Oxford student in 1969 and remembers the occasion fondly.

Austin Allison has now been to Ascot 400 times

"Three of us went, although we weren't in the royal enclosure in those days," he said.

"I hav3e clear memories of seeing Peter Walwyn's filly Lucyrowe winning the Coronation Stakes and I also remember backing at a decent price a young up-and-coming apprentice called Pat Eddery in the Wokingham. That definitely sticks in my mind."

Allison, who backed the winner in that 1969 Wokingham, added: "There will be many other people who have done 400 days. The thing about me is I actually know I've done 400 as I've been keeping count.

"I don't go racing to socialise but for the quality of racing, which at Ascot is consistently good. It would take a lot for me to miss a day at the royal meeting – in fact, I can't remember the last time I did."

Keeping cool

Thoroughbreds are not the only equines whose welfare is being closely monitored among extraordinary temperatures at the royal meeting. The Queen’s carriage horses, who take part in the royal procession before racing, are also being given special attention.

A batch of eight Equinice rapid cooling rugs, which are generally used for competition horses, was rushed to Berkshire on Tuesday evening and were in use for the first time on Wednesday.

Equinice creator Kay Russell said: “We were asked if we could fulfil the order late on Tuesday, so we sent them down with a plentiful supply of special cooling lotion to cope with the extreme temperatures. It’s a real feather in the cap for the product.”