Take a trip down any high street and pose a question to passers-by about what Royal Ascot is it all about.
There will be a narrow variation on a theme of the Queen, her arrival by carriage, the social season, silly hats and high living.
To be fair, the stereotypes abound as much as fake flowers on expensive millinery.
 Queen Elizabeth II has celebrated 19 winners at Royal Ascot |
What will be mentioned by few is the quality of the actual racing over the five afternoons. Purses totalling �3.175m are on offer for the 30 races that make up the last Royal meeting staged at Ascot before it switches to York because of re-development.
And pretty much from the word go on Tuesday, only Flat racing's very finest will be battling it out for top honours.
However, any suggestion that the most valuable racing fixture in Europe tends to be overshadowed by its sideshows is, I think, incorrect.
To me, it feels like all of the elements combine to make a magical event - extended from four to five days in 2002 - and one of the very strongest brands in sport.
Its fame around the world is made by both the racing and everything else - and Grand National and Derby apart, no racing event is better known.
In Australia, Royal Ascot is best known for the historic exploits of Choisir, a winner on both the Tuesday and the Saturday 12 months ago.
And another Sydney-trained galloper, Exceed And Excel, was brought over to run in this year's Golden Jubilee Stakes, the second of Choisir's triumphs a year ago, although will now not line up because of a virus.
Five entries for the Group One contest came from outside Europe - and there is a real possibility the spoils could go to Canada, Hong Kong or the United Stakes, if not Australia again.
Quite what Queen Anne, who invented Royal Ascot in 1711, would make of it all is hard to imagine, but the current monarch has given her backing to its globalisation.
Something of an aficionado of racing for over half a century, Queen Elizabeth II has enjoyed 19 winners at the most important occasion on "her" racecourse.
The Royal presence - and all the pageantry that comes with her - is a key part of the meeting's success, but her obvious enthusiasm for the horses also bridges the gap between socialites and purists.
On the Friday afternoon, she will be delighted to come face to face with another queen, the filly Attraction, heroine of the Newmarket and Irish 1000 Guineas.
Not at all a regal specimen, Attraction was kept by her owner, the Duke of Roxburghe, because he dared not risk humiliation at the sales by seeing nobody bid for her.
The gods were smiling on the Duke because she has overcome adversity and turned out to be brilliant, the winner of all of her seven races, under the care of trainer Mark Johnston.
A runner in the �225,000, Group One Coronation Stakes, Attraction looks the star attraction of the week provided she is not affected by the recent bout of coughing among Johnston's horses.
MMIX
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