Vintage Stakes in recent years sponsored by champagne houses Lanson and Veue Clicquot it has produced a number of classic winners, the last being Sir Percy.

Wolverhampton - on Decimalisation Day (15 February 1971) bookmakers standing here tried to enter into the spirit of the age by offering prices such as 7/5, 13/10 and 9/5 etc.

Some races had such prices returned as an SP but it didn't last long. After a couple of days tops the ring largely reverted to offering the traditional prices we have come to know and love.

The only differences were that 100/6, 100/7, 100/8, & 100/9 disappeared from the range of SPs to be replaced by 16/1, 14/1, 12/1 & 11/1.

Some might and did call that extortion.

Yesterday - 2003 Irish 1,000 Guineas winner.

Also finished 2nd in The Oaks and runner up in two other G1 races that year.

Zilber Maurice. Legendary French trainer born in Egypt but trained in France for 46 years until he retired in 2005 aged 85. His best horse was Dahlia and he entered the filly in the 1973 King George against the wishes of her owner Nelson Bunker-Hunt who told Zilber if she was beaten he would withdraw all his horses in training with him. Fortunately Dahlia duly obliged and came back the following year to win the race again and in 1976 Zilber achieved the rare feat of winning the Epsom and French Derbys in the same year with horses owned by Bunker-Hunt.

Ascot - staged exclusively flat racing until 1965 when the first jumps meeting took place.

Boussac Marcel. French businesman who owned the House of Dior and was one of the most successful racehorse breeders in France where his horses dominated racing from the 1930s to the 1960s making his stable the leading money winner 14 times and him the leading breeder 17 times and the winning owner of 6 Arcs. France's only group one 2yo fillies race which is run at Longchamp is named in his honour.

Conditional Jockey - receives a diminishing allowance starting at 7lb and reducing to 5lb then 3lb until he or she has partnered 75 winners.

Dahlia, one of the greatest fillies of the modern era who was surprisingly plainly named being by Vaguely Noble out of Charming Alibi. She won in the best company in England, Ireland, France, the US and Canada becoming the first mare to win over $1m and won back to back King Georges and Juddmonte Internationals. At stud she produced 11 foals, 6 of whom were group winners.

Even money favourite

Fresnay le Buffard, stud in Normany which sponsors today's Prix Jacques Le Malois which sees the best field for all age milers so far this year.

Group 1 - the victory of Estimate in the Ascot Gold Cup a couple of months ago was Sir Michael Stoute's first winner at that level since Workforce took the 2010 Arc.

Hawley, Sandy

Iron Man - nickname of tough-as-teak jumps jockey Ray Goldstein.

His catalogue of injuries included broken legs, arms, ribs, wrists, thumbs, nose (twice), collar-bone (six times), a fractured skull and a punctured lung.

Retired in 1992 on medical advice before which he rode over 180 winners, one third of them at Plumpton where he was leading rider for 11 consecutive seasons.

Juliet Marny

Kingsbarn, AOB's most hyped 3yo whose return still seems a little way off after he was taken out of his intended comeback race and a subsequent racecourse gallop was cancelled due to quick ground.

Lame.

Moonlight Cloud, filly who is now on top of the mile tree.

n.b

..

Oldest Runner - Creggmore Boy was 22 when finishing 4th in a Cartmel steeplechase in June 1962.

He was the oldest known horse to take part in a race in Britain.

Pulled

Quintessentially English - Royal Ascot

Ran on

Salisbury - the City Bowl Handicap run in May dates from 1765 and is one of the oldest races in the calendar. Over the years the race has been run over several distances and with varying entry conditions.

A couple of early winners were Gimcrack (1768) and Eclipse (1769) when the race was known as the City Silver Bowl.

Three furlong pole