I went to Ascot on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Winker was obviously the high point, but I managed to find one winner each day, including Binanti on the Friday which I backed at 44.
There still seems to be a lot of talk about the new stand and the redesign of the course, and a lot of people don’t like it. I don’t have a problem with the new stand – the old red brick Ascot had a lot of charm, but the world must move on. I think it’s a little on the dull side – I’d like them to have shown more imagination in laying it out. The track ranged from G/F to soft, and there didn’t appear to be any strong bias at any time, which is good.
They made mistakes and threw money away in the build of the stand – that’s their problem, but it felt more expensive than ever this year. Food was overpriced regardless of where you bought it. It feels like they are trying to pass on the cost of their mistakes to their customers, and I’m not particularly inclined to pay it. I’ll probably spend less time there next year.