Ascot Racecourse

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Top Stallions On Parade At Ascot
12/09/06

Thoroughbred Breeders Day, Friday, September 22, the first day of Ascot's three-day September meeting, will open with a parade of stallions from the National Stud.

The parade, which takes place at 12.30pm in the Parade Ring, will feature four top stallions - dual Group One winning sire Bahamian Bounty, his son, Pastoral Pursuits, the European Champion Sprinter of 2005, and two previous St Leger winners, Derby runner-up Silver Patriarch and Bollin Eric.

"The National Stud is delighted to be supporting the inaugural Thoroughbred Breeders Day at Ascot," said Tina Dawson, Commercial General Manager at The National Stud.

"It is an excellent opportunity to highlight the importance of the breeding industry to racing and we are very pleased to be working with Ascot on this initiative."

Thoroughbred Breeders Day sees the return of the £250,000 Watership Down Stud Sales Race as the feature race.

The three-day meeting continues with The Mile Championships on Saturday, September 23, with Family Day on Sunday, September 24.

"We now have three days with very different identities at our September Meeting, starting with Thoroughbred Breeders Day and the very welcome return of the valuable and popular Watership Down Stud Sales Race," said Douglas Erskine-Crum, Chief Executive at Ascot.

"Our thanks go to the race sponsors and of course the National Stud, who are providing the horses for the stallion parade.

"The Mile Championships has The Queen Elizabeth II Stakes, consistently rated the top mile race anywhere in the world, as its centrepiece, supported by the Juddmonte Royal Lodge Stakes and the Meon Valley Stud Fillies' Mile. The former is Europe's top rated mile race for two-year-old colts and the Fillies' Mile is the second highest in the two-year-old fillies' category."

Family Day on Sunday, September 24, featuring the John Guest Diadem Stakes, forms part of the Windsor Festival celebrations. The week long festival will showcase music and the arts within the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, and the ground floor of the Ascot Pavilion will be transformed into the Windsor Festival Painting Corner for the day.

Additional activities on Family Day will include fairground rides and face painters, whilst children aged 16 and under will be able help decorate a specially made papier mâché horse and to paint their portrait in a crowd scene at the new Ascot.