AUSTERITY RULES FOR ROYAL ASCOT

Press, Volume LXXXII, Issue 24899, 12 June 1946, Page 4

AUSTERITY RULES FOR ROYAL ASCOT

LONDON, June 2. This month’s Ascot will still be an austerity one, states a correspondent of the “Sunday Times,” even though the Royal procession will return to something like its pre-war scale, with State landaus and greys and a drive from the Golden Gates which are no longer golden. ■ The stands, derequisitioned for the first time since 1939, sadly lack a coat of paint to give them freshness matching the grass, which is in splendid condition, after being largely resown and returfed. There will be few club tents, and the former gay luncheons will be replaced by a buffet service. ... Dress, too, will be on a subdued scale, with women in day dresses and men in uniform or lounge suits. There will be three bands, two from the Household Brigade and that of the Royal Berkshire Regiment. £ . There are still many signs of Ascot s war-time occupation, and although the stands have been emptied and the prisoners and N.F.S. have gone, there are huts on some of the car parks, and meadow land formerly used as parking places near Shepherd White’s Corner is under the plough. , _ On the Royal procession days the King ann Queen will motor through Windsor Park to Sawyer’s Gate and there change into the State landaus. It is unlikely that the procession will be as large as in prewar years. Owing to the Metropolitan Police being under strength the Berkshire police this year take over the escort and other duties on the course. A Fast, Clean Jumpeer The hurdler, Khadim, made a good impression when he won two hurdle races at Ellerslie, and on the third day he led all the way in the Orakei Hurdles. Northerners were impressed by his fast, clean jumping. Khadim is a five-year-old gelding by St. Wave from Mauroa, a mare by Acre from Serita Thurnham, by Thurnham. a noted sire of jumpers. Mauroa is a half-sister to Senorita, the dam of Foxsen, which also raced over hurdles, and Foxchase.. Sales Cancelled Because the Wellington meeting has been abandoned, the bloodstock sales which were always held on the Friday before the last day of the meeting, have been cancelled. The July sales pt Trentham had grown considerably in importance during the last few years, and the cancellation will no doubt seriously inconvenience some vendors.