Royal Ascot 2008

Last weekend, Paulster and I attended the Royal Ascot horse races with several friends. It was my third trip to the annual event and as ever, a good day out. The rain held off--so no soggy hats/dresses/suits.

The first year, we were in the section called "Silver Ring"--think...the trailer park of Royal Ascot. This is where the dress code is not so stringent--jeans are acceptable and all sorts of other not-so-classy outfits were on display. Definitely good people watching venue. The second year and this year, we upgraded to the "Grandstand"--this is where hats or fascinators (headbands with dangly-sparkly bits on them are "preferred" but not absolutely required). Frankly, you'd feel out of place without a hat or fascinator on. THEN, there's the Royal Enclosure. That's where Queenie and Prince Phil hang out. Men MUST wear Morning Suits (that's basically a tux with tails) AND a Top Hat! And Women MUST wear a "suitable" dress--not too revealing--some Oscar-quality and a hat/fascinator.

Of course, we forgot our camera, so our friends, Budman and Hachie Gal were the designated photographers for the event. This was their first trip to the ultra-British event. For the newbie's perspective, click this link and for photos, you can go to this link on Travels of a Texas Gal blog.
I recycled the outfit from last year--this Princess decided save the £ for the house renovation.

I placed bets on 4 races and my picks won on the last 2! Not bad! My technique for picking horses is generally by just to go with a name that I like...or has some kind of meaning to me. One of the horse I picked to win was called Aeroplane--let's just say he didn't exactly take flight. Oh well! In the last two races, I modified the techinque to pick a horse with good odds--but not the best odds. That obviously proved a better technique that day.