Newbury scraps silver ring...

He should be able to go and get his prize in a chicken costume if he wants. Its his fucking prize

Im baffled why people want to go racing as if they are having a meeting with a chartered accountant or attending a poxy overdressed wedding. its a day off isnt it?
 
Love it! Now that really would add to the gaiety of things! :lol: Exactly - I'm so not fussed about people's sartorial choices. Bradstock's not appearing for a job interview with a merchant bank, is he? Thus looking part of racing's industry would appear to be appropriate to me.
 
Goodwood and Thirsk have the most ridiculous dress codes especially the latter, it thinks it's bloody Royal Ascot, it's a shit tip in the middle of Yorkshire.

Sandown and seemingly now Newbury have the most sensible ones.

What puts me off about Newbury is that you aren't allowed drinks infront of the grandstand (well you couldn't 18 months ago). There's nothing wrong with a few friends sharing a jug of pimms on the lawn on a Summer's afternoon or evening, it's part and parcel of going racing in the Summer in fact!

From August Newbury now allow drinks outside in plastic glasses.
 
Personally I like Cheltenham's dress code - dress for the weather!! Sensible throughout. So if people want to dress up for their day out they can, if not and they just want to be warm or something, they can do that too.
Haven't had problems at any courses I've been to though. I don't get the idea of dressing down for "gaff" tracks and dressing up for big meetings. Surely the reason for visiting is the same.
I go racing to see horses race, not join in a fashion/class statement. Why can't we just live and let be.
I understand certain sensible precautions - people in dirty clothes or footie shirts, but not others. What's so bad about a smart pair of dark jeans and smart, clean pair of trainers.
I also don't like the idea of being confined to the smaller enclosures if you dress smart/casual. I don't just want to watch a race from a small patch of grass in front of the stands. I go to see them in the pre parade, parade ring, winners enclosure and anywhere I can. Touchy subject!

On the subject of costumes, I have a gorilla costume Mr Bradstock could use!!
 
Back in the 1980s, I met my mother at Heathrow dressed as Darth Vader. Approached by a wheezy-voiced stranger in costume, she brushed past me with "I'm sorry, I don't know what you're selling, but I don't want it!" It took quite a bit of doing, in DV tones, to convince her it was actually me and not someone touting Star Wars tickets.

Sue, you wait 'til I build a racecourse we'll all love to attend! No enclosures, a tiny price to come in, all kinds of nosh and drink options, and a very rationally-planned layout where the racegoers aren't constantly held back behind gates when the horses go by, and there aren't any nasty road crossings over the track. Everything will flow in a rational manner and the facilities for stable staff and the horses will be world class. Now, I just need to buy a few Euromillions tickets, and away we go!
 
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Impeccable.
 
The publicity this sort of nonsense at Ascot and Epsom attracts is so great that your average Joe and Josephine think you have to dress like this for all race meetings and wouldn't dream of going.
 
Fascinators weren't allowed last year, either, so that's nothing new. I have received my invitation from Her Madge's new representative, inviting me to purchase my badges for the RA - times are hard, so it's now BOGOF if you buy for all five days.

(I lie, of course.) I have no desire to go again after last year's singular lack of comfort - heaven forfend that Ascot goes out of its way to ensure its valued customers should find somewhere to sit which doesn't involved buying hundreds of quidsworth of bubbly or an overpriced mini-meal. The weather was agin me last year, to some degree, but the Royal Enclosure was overstuffed uncomfortably and I'd rather spend the cost of a day's badge on three or four outings to a local gastro-pub.

I'm sure it's much better if you are the guest of corporate hospitality or prefer to spend your racedays glued to a dining table (which I don't). Nope, this year and always, it'll be a nice drink at home and watch it in comfort.

I'd honestly recommend anyone going into any enclosure to take a discreet folding chair or shooting stick with them, unless they feel they can do six crushed and loud hours without sitting down.
 
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Yes - gate staff could give chaps a ball to kick before coming in, and bar those who favoured the port side. I'd love to know what the caption is regarding the trio of bystanders on the left? "Oh, dear, he's never been the same since he left the Gunners... "
 
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