GOLDEN ASCOT.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1815, 30 July 1913, Page 10

GOLDEN ASCOT.

WHAT IT COSTS THE RACEGOER, MODERATE EXPENDITURE OF JE2S A WAY. At all race meetings of any importance money flows. There is something ill the "sport of kings" which makes its votaries lavish. That, remarks tho'London "Daily Mail," is why beggars of all kinds, touts; fortune-tellers, makers of "music," openers of carriage doors, oil do well oil the racecourse. They aro as likely to.get"a sovereign as a penny from some lucky hacker of a winner. , But in this knack, of conjuring money out of victims' poclfcts Ascot stands far ahead of any other meeting. To "do" it in the most economical way from tlio grandstand would cost at least ,£lO if anyone did it that way, and of course nobody does. This irreduciblo minimum of expense is made up thus: .£ s. d. Fares, 10s. each day 2 0 0 Four days' tickets for tho grandstand, paddock, and 'lattersail's 5 0 0 Luncheon, at 10a. a day 2 0 0 Teas at 2s. (id. a day .....' 0 10 0 "Tips," cloakroom, race-eards ... 0 10 0 , 10 0 0 Stay, there is one expense not "irreducible" there. Tea can be had, not on tlio balcony, for Is. (id. Take off -is.; but it will surely go some other way! Put tho expense of four days' amusement at .£2O, without any allowance nt all for boiling, and you' will not find you have any too much. So, for a man and his wife Ascot costs X'JO «t least, if' they do it in tlio most ordinary style. Suppose they motor, suppose they tako a box, have spccial luncheons served, <im[ so on, they will seo very little change out of .£IOO. And, if they bet quito moderately, as belting goes to-day, they may easily get through another .£IOO and without encountering particularly bad luck. Many people think the oxcitemcnt quite worth thai. Putting tho number who "do themselves reasonably well" >it 5000 for tho wel'k, each spending .£2O without any betting allowance, which is probably under tlie mark, we get a total of JCMIO.fIOO expended. Then (here is tlie crowd of a different class which fills thp fiveshilling stand. For the week that. mu>t number at least 10,000. They can hardly do it for less th'in 30s. a day. There is another .£15,000. The whitey-grey top hat as worn by tho King and many men at Ascot, according to tho "Daily Mail," is lo be very fashionable. The new colour will also ox> tend to the Innvier and soft felt lulls.