My Andalusian Horse Sculpture made an appearance at Royal Ascot this year… and so did Mr and Mrs Mackie!
We attended Ladies Day as guests of our friends Justin and Christine Gardner from Muse, the Sculpture Company. I was due to give interviews to both Sky Sports and ITV Racing, so it was an early start to be there by 9:00am. It was the most glorious weather.
And it was great seeing all the racegoers in their smart outfits, especially the ladies in their wonderful hats.It also happened to be my birthday, so it was a fantastic way to celebrate. I had a little flutter and won 5 out of my 6 bets! Of course, I absolutely loved seeing the horses too and thoroughly enjoyed the exhilaration of seeing them thundering past in the races. I couldn’t help wondering about sculpting a horse at full gallop…
We were lucky enough to be in the Royal Enclosure and it was fun seeing members of the royal family. The Royal Procession was a real spectacle with Her Majesty the Queen, the Duke of York, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, and Princess Anne and Vice-Admiral Sir Tim Lawrence. There was a bit of excitement when one of the uniformed riders in the procession fell from his horse, but luckily he was unhurt. Probably just got very hot! Frankie Detroit won the Gold Cup on Stradivarius who was joint favourite.
Justin had organised for my monumental Andalusian Horse Sculpture and my Otters 2018 to be on display at Ascot. He placed the Otters at the bottom of an escalator in the Royal Enclosure. It is in the impressive grandstand built in 2004-2006 by HOK Sport Architecture. This was part of a £200 million redevelopment to make Ascot the best racing ground in the world. My Andalusian was smack bang in the middle of the racecourse! I’m very grateful to Justin at Muse for such a great day.
