Five-days for Royal Ascot
18 October 2001
Royal Ascot is celebrating the Queen’s Jubilee by holding its first five-day meeting next year
Royal Ascot breaks with tradition by staging the first five-day meeting in its history to celebrate the Queen’s Golden Jubilee next year. Royal Ascot runs from Tuesday 18 June to Saturday 22 June 2002.
The Saturday programme, which will be given the usual full Royal Ascot coverage by BBC television, will include the Royal Ascot Derby, better known as the King Edward V11 Stakes, the Wokingham Stakes, one of the biggest betting handicaps of the year, and the Queen Alexandra Stakes. All three races have been transferred from earlier in the week.
Their places will be taken by new races – the Balmoral Handicap (5f) on Tuesday, the Hampton Court Handicap (10f) on Thursday and the Wolferton Handicap (10f) and a seven furlong handicap on Friday.
The move is a one-off and Ascot’s chief executive Douglas Erskine-Crum said: “Weare extremely proud and honoured that the Queen has given her consent to celebrating her Golden Jubilee with a fifth day of the Royal meeting next year.”
The traditional Saturday of Ascot week was known as the Heath meeting and did not require racegoers in the Royal enclosure wearing morning suits.
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“Extending the Royal meeting into the weekend will give a large number of people, who would not normally be able to attend during the week, an opportunity to experience this unique meeting,” added Douglas.
