By Cornelius Lysaght BBC racing correspondent

Stare out from Ascot's sumptuous new viewing stands, and in the hazy distance, it's possible to make out the shape of the Wembley Arch.

It can't be more than about 20 miles away to the north east, but this week - for those at Wembley, anyway - they felt poles apart.

Work on the new grandstand has stayed on schedule

Because at Ascot, officials are coming under starter's orders for their new era 20 months and a short head above their �200m budget, but, most important, they are on schedule.

The racing track has been moved about, and gone are the vast, old stands, demolished and replaced.

New paddocks, a reservoir and two traffic underpasses have been constructed and a golf course re-located.

And at Wembley...

True, with a month to go before the start of Royal Ascot, and on the eve of a full dress rehearsal race meeting, it was not 100% complete, but the 95% ain't bad.

Officials insist that everything will be pretty much spot on for the return home of Royal Ascot on 20 June, after one year away at York, racing's equivalent of Cardiff.

"Obviously there have been sleepless nights and a few rows... but we have been determined just to get on with it Ascot chief executive Douglas Erskine-Crum

An average of 1,600 workers on site are making sure of that, stopping only briefly during three visits from the Queen, effectively the course's owner.

And the work is looking good, not least because this most traditional of venues suddenly feels so modern.

Apart from the Royal Meeting, where there will still be a Royal Enclosure and Silver Ring, only two areas will exist: premier and general.

The idea is for everybody - however much they have paid - to be able to enjoy a slice of the action, and the feeling of space is striking. Nearly as striking as inside.

The concourse of the stand is light and shiny, all glass and escalators, looking as much like the set for a City of London TV drama as a sports arena.

The old grandstand was completely demolished

The view, from all the various levels, will be the envy of the sporting world, let alone the rest of the racing one.

"Very hard work," was how chief executive Douglas Erskine-Crum told me he reflected on the last twenty months.

A retired Scots Guards brigadier, E-C has been perhaps the perfect figurehead for an operation that has required all the precision and nerve of the military.

"Obviously there have been sleepless nights and a few rows and discussions over differences, but we have been determined just to get on with it," he said.

"We set ourselves ambitious targets, and I'm delighted that they look to have been achieved.

"Not everyone will like it straight away, and we'll listen to them. We are not just building for now but for the next 50 years, so of course we want to get it right."