The Royal Ascot

Horseracing is a big part of the British sporting culture. There are 32 races a year, 9 of which take place in Ascot, a town about one hour away from London. The Royal Ascot horserace is globally known and combine both high fashion and sport.  The Queen is a racehorse owner herself and attends the 5 day long event every year. The Royal procession marks the start of the race on each of these 5 days. Once again, I was in the presence of her majesty, the Queen.

I was so happy that I was able to attend this year. On the fourth day of race week, they have a Ladies Day. When I said the Brits love to combine fashion and sport (think Kentucky Derby), it wasn't a joke. There is a dress code. A hat is required and must be a certain length and width. Dresses must be knee length and cannot have straps. The rest is fun and games!

We took the train into Ascot and when we arrived we were surrounded by beautiful people all decked out on a gorgeous day. It was the perfect place to people watch. I did not come across any hat that was the same. Each of them were unique and beautiful.

Once we had our bubbly in hand, we set out to place some bets. After about 10 minutes of trying to figure out the "proper" way to bet, we gave up and did the simplest form of betting. For each race we picked 2 horses and bet "each way" and put whatever amount we wanted down. It wasn't the highest return, but one of my horses finished last and I won 10 GBP! My friend Sejal's horse won first and she won even more. It was loads of fun:)

The name of a highway in Dubai! 

This chart made my head hurt

Silver Line baby! 

At the race there are 3 enclosures and we had tickets to the Queen Anne Enclosure which is right next to the Royal Enclosure. The Royal Enclosure is super expensive because as you can guess, it hosts the Royal Family members and high society. Although it was highly guarded, a few of us got lucky and snuck in:) We didn't see anyone though but it was such a nice view of the racecourse. All in all it was a spectacular day and I'm so glad I can cross this off my list!