Royal Ascot 2025 - Carriage Lists

[CaveMum]

I did this last year and there was a reasonable amount of interest, so happy to do it again for each day of Royal Ascot.

Today’s list

Friday carriage list

@CaveMum Thanks. Queen looking bridal. Charles has a pink waistcoat. Looks pretty good. He wears a grey morning suit and pink looks good with it.

Muted arrival. It’s Armed Forces day but no rep in the carriages.

It’s clearly z listers in the carriages today!

Camilla looks lovely. She has not got it wrong once this week.

I was just looking at Charles’ fingers - they’re so swollen and uncomfortable looking.

My hands are always swollen when it’s hot. Can’t always get my rings on.

Lloyd Webber isn’t Z list. In racing terms, Willie Mullins is Royalty. Just lacking actual Royalty,

What I found depressing when I watched it on tv (apart from overheated horses) was the amount of plebeians curtseying or bowing to Charles. It makes me cringe and I would never do it if my life depended on it.

Then don't. No-one is asking you to. It's not obligatory. You choose not to, other people may choose differently.

https://www.royal.uk/encyclopedia/greeting-the-king-and-queen

I wouldn’t. But I despair at those twits that do.

That reminds me. I was very naughty on Wednesday evening and bunked off fawning practice. The heat, you know.

Animal welfare charities beg to differ:

https://www.peta.org.uk/blog/6-things-they-dont-tell-you-about-royal-ascot/

https://www.animalaid.org.uk/royal-ascot-all-glam-up-front-but-behind-the-scenes-is-animal-suffering/

@CathyorClaire Well they would wouldn’t they? Often they have pictures of American racing, not uk or Irish racing. I always think some people won’t like anything much but horse racing is natural for thoroughbreds. Anyone who thinks horses are unhappy and cruelly treated is bonkers. Deal with real cruelty. Not imagined cruelty based on class assumptions.

Odd to dismiss welfare charity reports out of hand but as all are in broad agreement on the cruelty I think they're quite believeable.

The links I posted are specific to Ascot but there's another here from the RSPCA specific to thoroughbred racing:

kb.rspca.org.au/knowledge-base/what-are-the-animal-welfare-issues-with-thoroughbred-horse-racing/

I’d hardly take PETA and Animal Aid as credible sources, they are activist groups with a specific agenda - to end horse racing entirely and, according to some of their own activists, to put an end to animal ownership full stop.

Neither of these groups, or the other activists, can answer the question of what they propose should happen to the tens of thousands of Thoroughbreds that would suddenly be without purpose should the sport end. I’ve heard the laughable suggestion that they could all be turned loose to frolic across the British countryside 🤣

The RSPCA, and other welfare groups like World Horse Welfare, work alongside the racing industry to ensure the highest of standards. Is racing perfect? No. But we are improving all the time and the amount of work being undertaken by industry bodies like the Horse Welfare Board means standards will only continue to rise and in turn the work done benefits the wider equestrian world.

They might be activist groups but their views are as I said broadly in line with plenty of animal charitable bodies.

Why should it be the activists responsibility to propose what should happen to an over- abundance of horses deliberately (and IMO immorally) bred by the industry in hopes of securing a winner?

In any case the industry doesn't seem to have had any problem or scruples about either over- breeding or disposing of the numbers deemed unsuitable for the 'sport' so far. See point 1 in RSPCA link.

And back to Ascot immediacy. I don't think it's OK to have any animal exerting itself in this heat in the name of entertainment for drunken masses (reports of serious brawl just today) braying toffs or any other group.

Just revolting.

You know it's OK to bunk off it permanently?

I've never been and I'm not posting from the Tower😉

As long as youre up to date in your forelock tugging @upinaballoon i think it’s ok. But don’t let it happen too often.

I’ve got 3 retired racehorses on my farm. What have you done

Bowing keeps me lovely and limber and scraping uses up a surprising amount of calories. Curtseying is apparently better for balance than that thing of seeing how long you can stand on one leg (if you do it with your eyes closed).
I'm not keen on forelock tugging. My hair hasn't started to to thin but I'm not chancing it. I'm against arse-licking as I wouldn't be able to see who was doing it to me (my neck's a bit stiff on occasion).
Not licking anyone else's either.

Tbh, I've bobbed to Princess Anne at my graduation and also to Prince Charles (as he was then) on another occasion.
I would choose who I nodded to now (tbf, I'd still bob to the King and Queen). Certainly wouldn't to children or to anyone I didn't respect or if didn't feel it appropriate to the occasion.

I’m surprised she’s not Ms. instead of Mrs.!

Genuinely excellent.

I hope to have highlighted their plight.

If you've rescued three, I hope you agree it is a plight.

@CathyorClaire What a load of rubbish. Pressure groups always have opinions and often they are wrong. They want your money. Maybe you should take in racehorses. I always rehomed mine. Maybe listen to what the horse vets say about horses in hot weather? Did you know the thoroughbred is bred from Arabian horses? Not Icelandic ponies.

I didn’t rescue them.

Obviously I’m an hour late for today’s procession 🫣, but here’s the list anyway!

I wonder what the criteria are for being invited to take a place in the carriage procession. Family and friends and people in the racing world, obviously, but why the Horowitzes and the Bremners, for example? Connections with a royal charity perhaps?

The Bamfords??? Interesting addition to the list. Major Tory party donor who quietly resigned his seat in House of Lords and is under investigation by HMRC for tax evasion.
Always amusing how some indiscretions from those in the company of Charlie and co escape the scrutiny from royalists on here 😁 All about the company you keep.