The royal parade makes its way down the Ascot course. Photo / AP
The royal parade makes its way down the Ascot course. Photo / AP
Champion jockey Dettori was again star of the show — and what a show.
At Royal Ascot they even got the advertising slogan right.
You might think that is a relatively minor bonus to the world's most iconic race meeting but it perfectly sums up the five-day extravaganza on the outskirts of London.
Horse racing has a moderate history with slogans. Some stick in the mind and occasionally even evoke the intended emotion. But many are clunky, trying a racing play on words and descend into being little more than nonsense.
But Royal Ascot's catchphrase is simple: 'Like nowhere else'.
It is perfect because Royal Ascot, which finished overnight yesterday (NZ time), is truly like nowhere else.
The racing, colours, ceremony, atmosphere, United Nations of spectators and staff are unlike any other race meeting in the world.
Sure, there are levels. The public bars on Gold Cup Thursday, also known as Ladies Day, are a better dressed version of the same experience at Oaks Day during Melbourne Cup week. Here airs and graces didn't make the one-hour train trip out from London.
But a stroll through the Royal Enclosure is truly like nowhere else. Unless you regularly get invited to Royal weddings or attend a lot of Mad Hatter's Tea Parties.
This is by no means horse racing cheap or easy. In the Royal Enclosure men have to wear a top hat and tails, a military uniform or national dress. That last part doesn't mean an All Black jersey.
Frankie Dettori celebrates his seventh Gold Cup on Stradivarius. Photo / AP
But for all the annoyance a top hat can create after six hours on a warm English afternoon, the cocktail of old English manners, magnificent horseflesh and racing done differently is intoxicating.
They get the little details spot on, right down to including the name of the groom for every horse in the official racebook. It is an impressive touch.
From the time the Royal Parade makes its way down the seemingly endless Ascot straight at 2pm daily to the national anthem playing out as the last song of the nightly 10,000-strong singalong, history and parochialism are everywhere.
But if you love racing, eventually your attention turns to the track.
Like many of the world's great thoroughbred tracks, Ascot is anything but intimate for spectators and even watching on the big screens the straight 1600m resembles the charge of the Light Brigade more than a horse race as we know them on smaller New Zealand tracks.
It is hard to get excited by the actual race until the 400m mark when the moving shapes and colours morph into horses. But nothing at Royal Ascot excites more than the phrase "and here comes Frankie".
One of the all-time greatest jockeys at the Royal meeting, Lanfranco Dettori is the rarest of racing magicians, loved by the small-time punters to the Queen herself.
Stradivarius ridden by Jockey Frankie Dettori gets ahead to win the Gold Cup. Photo / AP
On Thursday, Dettori won the first four races including defending the Gold Cup he won on Stradivarius last year. It felt pre-ordained, Stradivarius tracking leader Dee Ex Bee, easing around heels when Dettori wanted and forging to victory over the last 200m. At Ascot they rarely sprint to victory, they forge. Dettori has forged to seven Gold Cups. For all the class of the Aidan O'Brien-Ryan Moore combination, the relentless power of Coolmore and Godolphin, Frankie is the star of this show. There is already a statue of him inside the main gates, capturing his famous flying dismount, his hero status confirmed as far back as 1996 when he clean-swept a seven-race card.
Before each day of the carnival the leading jockeys are presented to the crowd. The only person all week who gets cheered louder than Frankie is the Queen herself. Even the normal rules of royal etiquette feel bent between the pair.
Most jockeys approach the royals with nervous reverence. As Dettori strides forward to accept his Gold Cup trophy from Her Majesty he has the warm, cheeky smile you might wear when you see your beloved grandmother again. Such interactions are rare in the real world. At Royal Ascot they seem almost normal, expected.
They weren't lying. It truly is 'like nowhere else'.
