Last year my friend Emile from Brussells attended with me for the first time. It didn't take long for him to see how it compares favourably to Ascot. Instead of top hats and frocks and millinery confections, here is a lower key, but perhaps a more elegant, panama-hated crowd with more subtle smart/casual attire for the ladies. I would call Goodwood more European. And certainly for a European, Goodwood's the chicest race meeting of the social season.

Here the crowd is less flashy, and the linen suits and panamas give it a garden party feel. The Duke of Richmond, Lord March, doesn't send out a dress code as is done for the Royal Enclosure at Ascot. He assumes his guests will know how to behave, and they do! He puts on a big occasion and expects people to dress accordingly, relaxed, modern and stylish. He merely encourages ladies to wear hats in the Richmond Enclosure and insists that men wear jackets and ties, cravats or polo necks.

You have to take your panama off to Lord March. Everyday during this summer ritual on top of the Downs he entertains 55 for lunch in his private box and dinner for 25 in the evening back at Goodwood House. Those are the delightful rigours of Glorious Goodwood.