Ascot due a fitting finale with racing's greatest fan set to star on day five

The show must always go on but things are never quite the same without the biggest name, are they?

Was Monty Python's Flying Circus quite so funny without John Cleese? Did Eastenders pack such a punch after Barbara Windsor left? Was Taggart as good without, well, Taggart?

So it has been at Royal Ascot these last two years. That 'Royal' tag is hugely important, whatever some might feel about the hoopla of the pageantry, procession and the rest.