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Blue denim is historically working attire, akin to overalls, which has been high-jacked as a form of fashion statement in some quarters. I would no more wear blue denim in public than I would a pair of working overalls – so I can relate to why some racecourses would want to ban it from certain enclosures.
Rant on/
Pompous reactionary twaddle.
Yesterday people were being humiliated whilst wearing smart shirts, jackets and overcoats, but simply no tie. A disgraceful way to treat paying customers who are engaging in a
LEISURE
activity.
It’s garbage like this that frankly holds this country back.
The willingness to abide by arcane dress codes is in no way an indicator of ‘class’ as I’m sure we’re all aware.Thank God this idiocy has never spread to Cheltenham.
/Rant off
Ironically, Ascot’s Premier Enclosure allows ‘smart jeans’. Who judges what ‘smart’ means is another matter. That also applies to their DC for under 17s who are encouraged to ‘adhere’ to the adult dress code "except for very young children": what age is a ‘very young’ child? 2, 4, 6, 8, 10?
Racing in general is working very hard to attract new people. Are they all expected to know they should pre-check the dress code? If you’d never been to a sporting event before, would you expect there to be a dress code? (A loaded question in some ways as racing prepares you for such thoughts)
Does the Olympics have a dress code? the Superbowl? The FA Cup final? Wimbledon? Does The Open Golf Championship have a dress code (in perhaps the most fastidious sport of all?) (the answer is – no, they don’t according to the website)
Racing must decide if it wants to live and market itself in a ‘modern’ fashion. Use of the words ‘attired’ and ‘adhere’ are, to my mind, Victorian expressions.
Dress codes and, indeed, enclosures themselves ought to be abolished. By all means charge extra for stand seats, or access to specialist facilities but the only fences on racecourses should be built from birch.
Amen Joe
"Blue denim is historically working attire, akin to overalls,"
Quite Paul – it might bring the working classes a little too close for comfort.
Which is why THEY don’t like it at Ascot.
So you could turn up in a hand made Savile Row suit wearing a tailor made shirt costing all in all a 4 figure sum and get an orange sticker for not wearing a tie, but turn up in a 49.99 Asda suit £4.99 shirt from Primark and a 2 quid polyester tie and the staff would lick your face with joy because you stuck to the dress code? Lovely.
I agree with the other posters, what other sporting events have dress codes attached to them?
It’s not like people were turning up dressed like Jayne County or GG Allin is it?
Whilst yesterday was clearly a cock up of mighty proportions, I love the fact that there is a dress code in racing. For me it is one of the things that sets it apart from other sports.
Perhaps if other sports DID follow suit there would be less inane screaming of "GET IN THE HOLE" or "you must be xxxxing blind ref!"
What is wrong with being asked to look smart? It is "the sport of kings" after all! As someone else said you can always pay a fiver and mix with the denim and overall wearers as I used to when spending Derby day on the downs.
There is so little tradition left nowadays so I am glad that Ascot and other courses still have standards.
"this perfect mix of poetry and destruction, this glory of rhythm, power and majesty: the undisputed champion of the world!!!"
The worst part of the Ascot dress code is how vague it is. What the hell does "smart" mean?
http://www.ascot.co.uk/?page=Dress_Code
The Royal Ascot dress code is just insane, at least from my perspective. They’re stuck in the 1800s.Let’s compare:
http://www.churchilldowns.com/plan-your … hill-downs
http://www.nyra.com/Saratoga/GeneralInf … tion.shtml
http://www.santaanita.com/content/2012- … et-pricingWhilst yesterday was clearly a cock up of mighty proportions, I love the fact that there is a dress code in racing. For me it is one of the things that sets it apart from other sports.
Perhaps if other sports DID follow suit there would be less inane screaming of "GET IN THE HOLE" or "you must be xxxxing blind ref!"
What is wrong with being asked to look smart? It is "the sport of kings" after all! As someone else said you can always pay a fiver and mix with the denim and overall wearers as I used to when spending Derby day on the downs.
There is so little tradition left nowadays so I am glad that Ascot and other courses still have standards.
An age of austerity. A struggling sport with dwindling income. A customer effectively says, I’d like to come and give you £50 of my money. Course says, well OK but you must dress a certain way before we will take it off you.
Madness
"Blue denim is historically working attire, akin to overalls,"
Quite Paul – it might bring the working classes a little too close for comfort.
Which is why THEY don’t like it at Ascot.
FFS this is the 21st Century and people are still going on about this class crap – no wonder this country is such a bloody mess.
The only people who still go on about class are those with some form of chip on their shoulder.
An age of austerity. A struggling sport with dwindling income. A customer effectively says, I’d like to come and give you £50 of my money. Course says, well OK but you must dress a certain way before we will take it off you.
Madness
That is a flawed argument because if people do not want to adhere to a strict dress code they can pay £25 and still see the same racing and wear, more or less, what they like in the Grandstand Enclosure.
People have a choice – if they so bloody precious and don’t like paying £50 and being told what to wear then they don’t have to go.
However as the Ascot Premier Enclosure is invariably sold out there are clearly plenty of people happy enough to do so.
The worst part of the Ascot dress code is how vague it is. What the hell does "smart" mean?
http://www.ascot.co.uk/?page=Dress_Code
The Royal Ascot dress code is just insane, at least from my perspective. They’re stuck in the 1800s.Let’s compare:
http://www.churchilldowns.com/plan-your … hill-downs
http://www.nyra.com/Saratoga/GeneralInf … tion.shtml
http://www.santaanita.com/content/2012- … et-pricingIt isn’t just the dress requirements that make for an interesting comparison Miss Woodford!
Saratoga – clubhouse admission $5; a hefty $10 on Travers day…
I know the US model requires attendance to drive the sport but that’s got to be a good value day out by any standards.
People who don’t like dress restrictions stay away as they don’t like being treated like lepers or second class citizens. How can that be good for British Racing?
Agreed Paul – and you’ll find a good body of them on Ascot’s board of trustees I reckon.
For pity’s sake – what sort of leisure venue would impose the following patronising restriction on their paying customers –
"There will be an announcement on the day allowing jackets to be removed, should the weather be hot"
Answer – the same sort that’d stick an orange badge of shame on you if you didn’t comply.
I’m old enough, I reckon, to gauge whether I need to take my jacket off or not in the event of a heatwave. Surely. if I’ve paid £50 to get in I should be free to take me effing jacket off for god’s sake. What planet are some of these characters on.
Tradition – fine, no problem.
That sort of high-handed autocracy – no thank you.
An age of austerity. A struggling sport with dwindling income. A customer effectively says, I’d like to come and give you £50 of my money. Course says, well OK but you must dress a certain way before we will take it off you.
Madness
That is a flawed argument because if people do not want to adhere to a strict dress code they can pay £25 and still see the same racing and wear, more or less, what they like in the Grandstand Enclosure.
People have a choice – if they so bloody precious and don’t like paying £50 and being told what to wear then they don’t have to go.
However as the Ascot Premier Enclosure is invariably sold out there are clearly plenty of people happy enough to do so.
Who’s being ‘precious’, the customer or racecourse exec? Perhaps your argument is flawed: I’m happy to pay £50 for the facilities available – I don’t want to pay £25 and be relegated and offered poorer facilities.
Marks & Spencer learned a hugely expensive lesson not that long ago: they did not believe they needed a marketing dept. They told customers they’d only accept the M&S card or cash – no credit cards. They decreed how the customer should behave and it almost cost them their whole business. They’ve never recovered. You cannot run a business that way these days – people are far too used to getting what they want, when they want it, on their terms.
Perhaps the time has come for those who find it distasteful to share an enclosure with someone not wearing a jacket and tie to find another sport.
Answer – the same sort that’d stick an orange badge of shame on you if you didn’t comply.
You surprise me Corm – "badge of shame" what a load of complete and utter bollocks – you know full well the "thinking" behind the sticker and you know full well that was not the intention of Ascot.
This "badge of shame" argument is simply being used as a cheap shot to attack what some perceive as an elitist approach from Ascot.
Would you have preferred that Ascot simply didn’t allow those who did not comply with the dress code in? As would be the case at Goodwood or Thirsk for example.
Agreed Paul – and you’ll find a good body of them on Ascot’s board of trustees I reckon.
Actually I think you will find it is only those who perceive themselves as being the poor oppressed working class that bang on about class – it’s so pre-WW2
For pity’s sake – what sort of leisure venue would impose the following patronising restriction on their paying customers –
"There will be an announcement on the day allowing jackets to be removed, should the weather be hot"
Answer – the same sort that’d stick an orange badge of shame on you if you didn’t comply.
As well as at least two other racecourses and various other sporting venues – such a rule is not unique to Ascot so why single them out?
That sort of high-handed autocracy – no thank you.
Again – at the risk of repeating myself – if people don’t like the restrictions and dress rules they can vote with their feet. Enough people are happy with the dress rules to see a Premier Enclosure sell out at most meetings and I will happily wager they will continue to do so
What is the difference between Ascot imposing a dress code and you saying they have no right to?
An age of austerity. A struggling sport with dwindling income. A customer effectively says, I’d like to come and give you £50 of my money. Course says, well OK but you must dress a certain way before we will take it off you.
Madness
That is a flawed argument because if people do not want to adhere to a strict dress code they can pay £25 and still see the same racing and wear, more or less, what they like in the Grandstand Enclosure.
People have a choice – if they so bloody precious and don’t like paying £50 and being told what to wear then they don’t have to go.
However as the Ascot Premier Enclosure is invariably sold out there are clearly plenty of people happy enough to do so.
Who’s being ‘precious’, the customer or racecourse exec? Perhaps your argument is flawed: I’m happy to pay £50 for the facilities available – I don’t want to pay £25 and be relegated and offered poorer facilities.
But the £50 facilities come with conditions attached – so you can use them if you are prepared to adhere to the conditions. If you don’t like the attached conditions you vote with your feet. If enough people do so then, in all likelihood the conditions will be changed.
It is called market forces which, as an ex-marketing man, is a concept you are aware of. As I have previously stated the Premier Enclosure at Ascot is invariably sold out so clearly enough people are happy with the conditions laid out by the Executive.
If people don’t like the conditions imposed by Ascot there are 59 other courses they can go to.
It’s like going to a nice restaurant isnt it? Ascot, Newmarket, Goodwood and the like are racings equivalent. You dress accordingly.
I don’t think people resent dressing up and I very much doubt that it affects attendance in fact rather the opposite I would have thought – for some it is what a day out at the races is all about.
I know what "smart" looks like and can’t imagine what Royal Ascot would be like if people were allowed to wear any old thing.
"this perfect mix of poetry and destruction, this glory of rhythm, power and majesty: the undisputed champion of the world!!!"
You surprise me Corm – "badge of shame" what a load of complete and utter bollocks – you know full well the "thinking" behind the sticker and you know full well that was not the intention of Ascot.
Yep – it was a cheap shot, I admit that.
But that (badge of shame) is what it amounted to (and they now recognise it was misguided although I accept it wasn’t their intention). It is the fact that we have a midset at the helm with a mindset that contemplates something like that (the orange sticker) and thinks it will be fine that worries me Paul. It was clearly rocket fuel, and they should have recognised that. Anyway – they’ve paid dearly for their misguided patronising attitude towards their customers, intended or otherwise – one as bad as the other.
On ‘class’ – lord, we could debate that all night. If I could put it anotyher way, I think there is a snobbery and elitism at a certain level in society which is magnified in racing that I find offensive.
Evening all
Little doubt in my mind that yesterday was a PR disaster for Ascot. Sticking orange stickers on people whose dress doesn’t quite match the required standard is completely unacceptable in this day and age.
I find the idea of a "dress code" for attending racing an increasingly anachronistic throwback to social and cultural mores of times past and I speak as someone of fairly advanced years.
The argument that Ascot will always fill its top enclosure is used as justification for its dress guidelines but this is hugely spurious. Ascot is in one of the wealthiest regions of the country and attracts its clientele which is conservative in outlook. This is why places like Goodwood and Thirsk do dress codes – because they appeal to the inate conservatism of their local audience.
The bottom-line argument is of course that Ascot are entitled to ask their customers to dress in a particular manner if they wish and I am equally entitled either to go to a different enclosure where the guidelines are acceptable to me or attend a racecourse whose dress standards are more amenable.
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