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If the resumption of racing is put back from the current (optimistic) plans and Royal Ascot has to be rescheduled at a later date, it won’t be the first time that has happened.
In 1955, the four day meeting was postponed and the Jockey Club set a new date in mid July, when the four days would take place as usual Tuesday to Friday, with the King George card on the Saturday. The Newmarket July meeting was scrapped, as was the Friday of the King George meeting, in order to accomodate this new date. The Newmarket July Sale was reduced to a single day and staged on the Monday.
The usual running order was changed to have the King Edward VII and the Hardwicke on day one, so that runners in those races could still turn out again in the King George. The Gold Cup was run on day two along with the Coronation Stakes. Day three was thus a fairly mundane card compared to normal, but that turned out for the best, as a torrential storm caused racing to be abandoned after the fourth race. One of the abandoned races, the Bessborough Stakes, was added to the Friday, possibly the only seven race card in the history of Royal Ascot.
The cause of all this disruption – a strike by drivers and firemen on the nationalised rail system. The strike began on May 29th. Ironically, the government settled the dispute on June 14th, the original opening day of Royal Ascot and the trains were running again the next day.
Other meetings in the run-up to Ascot were also cancelled – for example, neither Sandown Park or Worcester fulfilled their fixtures on the previous Saturday. Although to the surprise of absolutely nobody reading this, the loss of Worcester had nothing to do with the strike – the course was flooded!
The only horse to run at the Royal meeting and in the King George, was Elopement (MUrless/Piggott), who won a match for the Hardwicke Stakes on Tuesday and finished third on Saturday at 25/1.
I never knew that aprading.
A rail strike these days doesn’t affect Royal Ascot. I remember a train strike in the 80s and having to get busses to Ascot I think I got the old 726 to Windsor.
Assuming that racing can get back on track by June, it would probably be behind closed doors, like Ireland did before the lockdown. So if the Queen doesn’t attend for various reasons can it still be called Royal Ascot.
You've got to accentuate the positive.
Eliminate the negative.
Latch on to the affirmative.
Don't mess with mister in between.
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Hologram?
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