Joyful jockeys ride London’s underground as Ascot week starts

The British pubication Racing Post ensured there were no long faces for London’s army of workers Monday morning by unleashing a jamboree of jockeys on unsuspecting Underground users.

Riders including Kirsty Milczarek, Mikey Ennis and Jake Greenall swapped their four-legged friends for a Travelcard and less familiar mode of transport, but were still fully clad in race kit – wearing boots and breeches, shirts and silks, as well as hats and goggles – to the bemusement of fellow passengers.

Three different teams of jockeys were each given a route to follow containing five lines and 30 stops – representing each day of Royal Ascot and the total number of races respectively – to promote the racing bible’s unbeatable coverage of the world’s most prestigious flat meeting and raise valuable funds for the Amateur Jockeys Association.

Leading female jockey Milczarek said: “There is no meeting like Royal Ascot. It is a race week that I am always incredibly excited about so I was only too happy to help Racing Post bring some of the buzz to London before the action gets underway. We certainly caused quite a stir!”

With starter’s orders at 6.30am, the male and female jockeys were out of the stalls early for their Monday morning race around the capital’s Tube system before converging on Canary Wharf station for the short trot back to Racing Post’s headquarters at One Canada Square.

“Commuting is never much fun – let alone on a Monday morning,” said the Racing Post’s Harriet Collins. “I hope Racing Post has put smiles on a few people’s faces today, it was certainly a pretty colourful start to the morning. Huge thanks must go to the Amateur Jockeys Association who helped us achieve such a good response and hopefully it has added to the excitement of Royal Ascot.”

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