Royal Ascot Week - Facts & Figures

 

Credit - Royal Ascot  - we thought you would enjoy these amazing facts and figures for one of the most famous and historic thoroughbred events in the world ...

 

FACTS & FIGURES

ROYAL ASCOT BY NUMBERS

 

The first Royal Meeting took place at Ascot in 1768

Britain's most popular race meeting, welcoming 300,000 racegoers across five days

70,000 racegoers attend Thursday's Gold Cup Day

The most valuable race meeting in Britain with £7.3m in prize money

Features 8 Group One races and 19 Group races in total

Viewed in over 200 countries around the globe

Approximately 400 helicopters and 1,000 limos descend on Royal Ascot every year.

5 Michelin stars and 13 AA Rosettes combined

There are 163 full-time staff, which increases by more than 6,500 temporary staff during Royal Ascot

Over 2,000 hours of staff training delivered to maintain the high levels of customer service expected by Royal Ascot attendees

There are 3,500 cleaning shifts running on a 24-hour cycle during the week

26,000 items of temporary furniture are hired in for the Royal Meeting

25,000 people signed into Ascot's free Wi-Fi at the Royal Meeting

Over 120,000 tweets were logged mentioning Royal Ascot or using #RoyalAscot in 2017

19,430 Facebook check-ins

976,258 video views across social media

30,000 people downloaded the free Ascot app

33 live music acts performed across the five days

173,000 racecards printed

509 horses running across five days

Royal Ascot 2017 was broadcast in 175 territories with a reach of 650 million households

22.5 hours of live television coverage on ITV

3 miles of bunting

There are more than 100 bars and food outlets around the racecourse, and 225 private boxes

39 professional kitchens operate during Royal Ascot: 25 in the Grandstand, plus one for every two boxes

Over 13,000 flowers and plants are grown and planted especially for Royal Ascot

 

During the five days of the Royal Meeting racegoers consume:

 

240,000 hand-crafted afternoon tea cakes

128,500 bottles of mineral water

120,000 buttermilk scones

80,000 cups of tea

60,000 finger sandwiches

56,000 bottles of Champagne

44,000 bottles of wine

25,000 spears of English asparagus

21,000 jugs of Pimm's

8,000 Cornish crabs

7,000 punnets of mixed berries

7,000 rumps of English lamb

5,000 kilos of salmon

5,000 Angus steaks

3,500 fresh lobsters

3,000 kilos of beef sirloin

1,200kg of Cornish clotted cream

 

ASCOT RACECOURSE BY NUMBERS

The Racecourse:

 

Ascot Racecourse has been in operation since 1711 when Queen Anne rode out from Windsor Castle and declared this area of East Cote “ideal for horses to gallop at full stretch”.

The two tracks - Flat and Jumps (for Chase & Hurdles) - allow racing all year round

The first Jumps fixture was in 1965

Ascot is a right-handed course, slightly in excess of 1 mile, 6 furlongs

One furlong = 220 yards. Eight furlongs = one mile

Annual prize money of £13,452,000

As well as world-class racing, Ascot Racecourse is also used as a movie and TV filming location and as a venue for conferences, banquets, exhibitions, product launches and weddings

Famed for being a tough course, especially over fences, with a 73-foot climb from the lowest point (Swinley Bottom) to the highest (Winning Post)

 

Attendance:

 

Ascot Racecourse is visited by just under 600,000 people a year, accounting for 10% of all UK racegoers

It was the first racecourse in Europe to reach the 500,000-racegoer milestone.

The Grounds:

 

12 grounds staff maintain the track, lawns and grounds year-round and 3 more maintain the plants, shrubs, hedges and trees

Grass is cut to a regulation 4 inches for Flat racing and 5 inches for Jumps racing

The Racecourse covers 179 acres which is 724,387sqm

The reservoirs in the middle of the track collect rain water from the Grandstand roof, and the Winkfield and Heath tunnels, as part of Ascot's Green Policy

The land on which Ascot Racecourse sits is leased from the Crown Estate, adjacent to Windsor Great Park

 

The Facilities:

 

The new Ascot Grandstand was opened in June 2006 by Her Majesty The Queen after an 18-month redevelopment

The £220m redevelopment was the single biggest investment in British Racing

The Racecourse continues to invest in top-class facilities for racegoers, horsemen and horses alike with capital expenditure over the past five years totalling around £25m

Sodexo Prestige, operating as 1711 by Ascot, has been the catering partner at Ascot since 1998

There are 163 full-time staff, which increases by more than 6,500 temporary staff for Royal Ascot

More than 78 live music acts perform throughout the year

6 permanent restaurants remain in operation throughout the year - ON5, Panoramic, Parade Ring, Windsor Forest, Pavilion and Trackside

In 2017, Ascot Racecourse recycled 379 tonnes of waste diverted from landfill

 

Year-Round Racegoers Consume:

 

306,000 hand-crafted afternoon tea cakes

210,000 bottles of mineral water

162,000 buttermilk scones

81,000 finger sandwiches

9,000 rumps of English lamb

8,500 punnets of mixed berries

5,800 kilos of salmon

4,500 kilos of beef sirloin

2,700 of Cornish clotted cream

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