Do you wear a flat cap to the races?
- Yes
- No
- Only if it's raining
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Seeing Luke Harvey in his flat cap today made me think of this (in my opinion) stupid trend. Wearing one makes you look like a PBW (Peaky Blinders Wannabe) and, frankly, a bit of a prat.
So who here wears one when they go to the races? And, if you do, why? Do you think it’s stylish? Hard? Makes you look like a member of the landed gentry? Or is it simply practical on a wet day?
I have a stetson cap which I wear with my barbour gear
Pick 3 on Saturday champion 2025/2026
….. I was going to offer to buy you a drink to Green
Pick 3 on Saturday champion 2025/2026
I can’t stand caps but hate these particular types with a passion and wouldn’t be seen dead in one.
Luke Harvey looks most odd wearing his flat cap … looks like some kind of walking pedal bin.I’ll confess, I do. The racecourse is the only place where I wear any sort of headwear at all.
I bought it as a bit of a laugh because I went to Plumpton one day and I was just about the only bloke not wearing one.
Next time I went down there, with hat in place, I backed four winners.
So now it’s my lucky hat and I continue to wear it purely out of superstition!
Happily, I’m too old to worry about whether or not I look a bit of a prat…
“So now it’s my lucky hat and I continue to wear it purely out of superstition!”
Can’t argue with that, @broadsword
👍
I’ve a couple of tweed caps from renowned hatters Failsworth, one of which is a baker-boy style, though bought sometime before they were displayed on Peaky Blinders: anyway, it’s brown not de rigueur black.
I take one with me only when it’s raining or rain is expected, including to outdoor sporting events.
What I never cover the barnet with is a bobble hat or its relative the ‘beanie’ both of which I regard as ugly, even if they do keep the ears warm. Better cold than undignified
Have worn a flat cap to every days jumping I’ve been to since my teenager days 40 odd years ago
Fair enough, @runandskip84, but why? Was it something your dad/other influences did?
My dad always wore a trilby to the races and never owned a flat cap so no idea why I took a shine to them at an early age.maybe its because it helped me get away with traveling on a coach trip to The Grand National alone aged 13
I have sometimes (when it is cold and a strongish breeze) but not all the time as my head does tend to overheat when wearing hats of any kind.
My head tends to itch when wearing a hat, possibly because, despite advanced years, I still have the thick curls of youth, greying admittedly.
There’s an amusing hats and racing reference in one of PG Wodehouse’s yarns when Jeeves is discussing with his fellow valets the problems they’re having with their Gentlemen:
Well, I must say, mine is coming along very nicely, very nicely indeed. You remember I had to be quite severe with him about wearing a soft hat before Goodwood?
What I never cover the barnet with is a bobble hat or its relative the ‘beanie’ both of which I regard as ugly, even if they do keep the ears warm. Better cold than undignified.
I know what you mean but as you say, the beanie do keep the ears warm, so I do wear one in the depths of winter. I can’t abide feeling cold.
The two bobble hats I own are for football teams. They are only worn inside the grounds.
I have two flat caps. One is a fairly recent purchase. The other was bought years ago in Donegal, made by the Hanna Hats company.
Several people have approached me over the years to say how much they like the hat. One genial Rastafarian fellow I encountered on the Charing Cross Road was most taken with it and insisted on “high fiving” me!
Unfortunately in recent years, several people have assumed I must have bought it because of “Peaky Blinders”. When in fact I bought it several years before that programme ever saw the light of day. I have never watched it and don’t want to either!
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