We may now be deep into the Premier League’s off-season, with a summer of transfer business slowly clicking into gear, but this week the attention of Brighton & Hove Albion chairman Tony Bloom and many of his players will be on Royal Ascot.
One of the showpiece occasions of the British sporting summer shines a light on the football club’s affinity with horse racing. Bloom and several players in the first-team squad, including Brighton’s Georginio Rutter and James Milner, find excitement in owning horses when they are not concentrating on collecting points in the Premier League.
The trio all have horses entered to run at Ascot, where each of the five days of high-class racing is preceded by pomp and pageantry. Members of the royal family and other dignitaries ride up the home straight at the course in Berkshire, a short drive west of London, in horse-drawn carriages. The meeting’s Royal Procession tradition celebrates its 200th anniversary this year. The dress code for many of the Ascot racegoers is top hats and tails for men, lavish dresses for women.
Ceremonies over, the action begins with the opening race of the meeting on Tuesday, the Queen Anne Stakes. Bloom will be trying to win the mile-long contest with Lake Forest, a horse trained by William Haggas.
Bloom and…
