One month after their royal wedding in 2018, Prince Harry playfully reprimanded jockey Frankie Dettori after he kissed Meghan Markle at Royal Ascot. The couple presented the winning trophy for the feature race of the opening day, the Group 1 St James’s Palace Stakes, and the winning jockey of the event caused quite a commotion.
Frankie Dettori was in high spirits after his mount, the 9-4 favourite, burst from the stalls and secured a half-length victory to take home the £300,000 prize. Meghan and Harry were spotted in the winners’ enclosure post-race, where the happy contender received his trophy but also cheekily kissed Meghan’s hand.
This prompted a telling-off from Prince Harry, and you could hear the crowd chuckling over the exchange.
The Italian-born jockey was victorious riding three year old colt, Without Parole, for trainer John Gosden.
Later that evening, the successful Dettori-Gosden duo celebrated another triumph as Monarchs Glen clinched victory in the Wolferton Stakes, adding to their earlier win with Calyx in the Coventry Stakes.
“A fantastic day for the whole team. To have three winners in a week is amazing. To have three winners on the first day is fantastic,” Dettori said on the day’s successes. Despite the triumphant and incredibly successful day, Dettori was slapped with a seven-day whip ban for his ride on Without Parole and subsequently fined £4,300 according to reports.
The British Horseracing Authority announced that Dettori would be suspended for seven days and fined for over-use of the whip in his win aboard Without Parole. The suspension took place from July 3 through July 9, 2018.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have not attended Royal Ascot since stepping down as working royals in 2020.
Figures in the Guardian show Saturday’s crowd of 71,073 was a 2.6% rise on last year, completing a full set of rising attendance across the five days for the second year in a row. The total attendance of just over 285,000 was just below 5% above last year’s figure.
The Royal Family turned out in force for the prestigious racing event held in Berkshire, and the royal procession celebrated its 200th anniversary, a tradition which begun in 1825 when George IV was accompanied by the Duke of Wellington.
The late Queen Elizabeth II, was a passionate owner of thoroughbreds and had more than 20 Royal Ascot winners during her 70-year reign.
