Behind the Scenes at Royal Ascot–The Royal Statues

BEHIND THE SCENES AT ROYAL ASCOT–THE ‘ROYAL’ STATUES 
Queen Anne, out for a leisurely ride near Windsor Castle in 1711, happened upon an area of open heath. She thought it was the perfect place to “gallop horses at full stretch”, and Ascot Racecourse was born. Yesterday we saw two course records broken as first The Fugue (GB) (Dansili {GB}), and then Integral (GB) (Dalakhani {Ire}) etched their names into the history books. Yet these days Royal Ascot is much more than just a place to gallop horses at full stretch, for scattered strategically around the racecourse are sculptures made of various materials, all depicting the history of racing at Ascot through the ages. 
We begin just behind the pre-parade ring on the Gredley Lawn, where a pair of imposing iron gates, slightly parted, greet an inquisitive visitor. Through these gates, a group of people appear to have gathered, and it is only upon closer inspection that one realizes that they are looking at life-sized bronze statues. Welcome to the sculpture called “Uniting Two Societies”, originally commissioned by Mr W L Gredley. The gates are the original gates of the Harland and Wolff Company, made at the company prior to the Second World War and through which the daily workforce entered. Harland and Wolff’s main business was building ships (including the Titanic, I might add). They did, however, also make large iron gates, and shortly after Queen Elizabeth ascended to the throne in 1952, they were commissioned to make the Royal Ascot Entrance Gates. And through these gates ordinary people such as soldiers, sailors, owners, trainers and jockeys, as well as world leaders, Prime Ministers, Presidents and Royalty have passed. At the far end, facing the assembled crowd are Her Majesty The Queen and Prince Philip, greeting both the establishment and the working class, two societies coming together to meet their Monarch in a giant sculpture. 
Apart from attending a Royal meeting, people of all classes also come to Royal Ascot to enjoy the spectacular racing, and it is Ascot’s equine heroes that feature next, in the form of life-sized statues. Motivator (GB), galloping “at full stretch”, would definitely have pleased Queen Anne, as he shares the lawn named in his honor with a champagne bar, while a life-sized bronze of Canford Cliffs, unveiled in 2013, towers over Royal Enclosure guests. Canford Cliffs (Ire) enjoyed a special relationship with Royal Ascot, as his greatest triumphs came during the Royal meetings of 2010 and 2011, when he won the G1 St James’s Palace S. and the G1 Queen Anne S. 
In the center of the Parade Ring, Yeats (Ire), four-time winner of Ascot’s most historic race, the G1 Gold Cup, stands in solitary splendor. First run in 1807, with the winner Master Jackey earning a whopping 100 guineas, the Gold Cup holds a special place in history as the most prestigious staying race in Great Britain. Yeats’ record of four consecutive victories from 2006 to 2009 is unlikely to be equaled, and he has certainly earned his place in the parade ring. 
Another who has earned his spot at Royal Ascot is jockey Frankie Dettori. Just past the magnificent entrance gates, against the red brick wall, is a bronze jockey, leaping high in the air, arms aloft. Meet Frankie Dettori, celebrating his “Magnificent Seven”. On the Sept. 28, 1996, Dettori was engaged to ride seven horses of varying ability in seven races at Ascot. One after the other he returned victorious, until only the last, the seventh race remained. The BBC TV channel had switched to the news already, believing that Dettori could not possibly win on all his rides. They were mistaken, and in the middle of the news broadcast, the station switched back to Ascot, just in time to see Dettori win his seventh and last ride of the day. 
Finally, we meet a new statue, a statue still in the making, for right in front of the main Grandstand entrance is a beautiful off-white statue of a horse. Sculptor Edward Waites has spent the last three months at his studio in Newmarket building the welded steel armature for the 5% larger than life statue, before painstakingly molding sculpting plasticine over it to form the stallion Makfi (GB). Waites is on hand daily to explain how he goes about turning a living horse into a larger than life plasticine model before casting it in bronze. Needless to say, his more pressing task seems to be preventing enthusiastic visitors from trying to clamber on its back. 
Then, finally, there is the quirky, situated at both ends of the racecourse. For at the top entrance near Car Park One, you will find a perfect topiary of a four-in-hand, complete with driver, reins and whip, while at the other end, a giant bronze horse head, with a malevolent stare, presides over racegoers on the Stewards House Lawn. Ascot is full of surprises, many tucked away in nooks and crannies, and if you are prepared to take the time and explore a little, you are sure to be delighted by what you find.