Royal Ascot: that most quintessentially British of sporting occasions - Cornelius Lysaght

Of course all that traditional distinctiveness remains but the meeting has also continually adapted for a more modern world.

In fact, while some may say ‘meeting’ others might well go for ‘carnival’ – originally Australian but now adopted elsewhere – as the international vibe ever-grows.

Star horses from right across the globe will be jetting in, something which speaks volumes for the meeting-dash-carnival’s prestige because it’s not for the level of prizemoney which would probably be higher in many of the challengers’ home countries – though to be fair the £8.652m of purses in 2022 represents a new record.

Runners from Ireland and France have been commonplace since the Second World War, with Irish trainers Paddy Prendergast and Vincent O’Brien and their French counterpart Francois Boutin all making big impressions.

Since then their boots have been ably filled by many, but particularly Aidan O’Brien who goes into the 2022 Royal meeting with 76 victories since the first with Harbour Master in the 1997 Coventry Stakes.

Only Sir Michael Stoute, with 82, has trained more.

Meanwhile, however, efforts begun around the turn of the century to regularly attract hopefuls to Ascot from even further afield quickly proved successful.

In 2003, the Australian-trained speedster – and subsequent leading stallion – Choisir completed the double in the headline sprints by taking what was then the Golden (now Platinum) Jubilee Stakes on the Saturday four days after success in Tuesday’s King’s Stand Stakes.

Choisir was soon followed by fellow Aussie sprinters including Takeover Target and the unbeaten champion Black Caviar, winner of what had become by 2012 the Diamond Jubilee Stakes, albeit in a heart-in-the-mouth photo-finish after her rider Luke Nolen took it easy near the finish.

Despite hopes that the iconic Winx might make the 10,500-mile journey from Sydney she never did.  

Hong Kong has also won the feature sprints while there was, unusually, a Spanish success in the King’s Stand of 2008 with Equiano which subsequently joined Barry Hills at Lambourn before recording a repeat two years later.

Much significance was attached to the 2009 wins by American trainer Wesley Ward with Strike The Tiger (Windsor Castle Stakes) and Jealous Again (Queen Mary Stakes), and Ward has followed up on ten occasions, mainly with juveniles though the 2017 King’s Stand performance by Lady Aurelia – the previous year’s Queen Mary winner – will live long in the memory.

Plenty of attempts have been made by other US trainers but so far only Mark Casse has made a winning trans-Atlantic challenge when Tepin was successful in the 2016 Queen Anne Stakes.

After two years of disruption because of Covid, horses from America, Australia and Japan are all due in 2022, while there is also expected to be a rarely-seen runner in Britain from The Czech Republic when Ponntos lines up in an intriguing King’s Stand.

Considerable interest accompanies that race as Australia’s Nature Strip, the world’s top-rated sprinter, is scheduled to take on the Wesley Ward-trained hope Golden Pal.

In the Platinum Jubilee, Home Affairs, trained like Nature Strip – and Winx – by Chris Waller, is again up against a Ward star in the four-year-old Campanelle, already a two-time Royal Ascot winner, as well as a Japanese longshot, Grenadier Guards.

Japan has never won a race at Royal Ascot but it emphasised its state of ascendancy on the world stage by snapping up major prizes on the Breeders’ Cup, Saudi Cup and Dubai World Cup programmes, and Dubai’s Sheema Classic winner Shahryar is well-touted for Wednesday’s Prince of Wales’s Stakes.

What would the traditionalists of yesteryear make of it all? Well, they’d not be having their idea of a carnival in response, but modern British racing relishes the global feel.