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Horse racing supplies more fixed social dates than any other sport. Royal Ascot in the third week of June is the anchor of the English season; the Kentucky Derby on the first Saturday in May, the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe on the first Sunday in October and the Melbourne Cup on the first Tuesday in November are national occasions with international crowds; the Dubai World Cup in late March, Epsom's Derby in early June, Glorious Goodwood at the end of July and the Breeders' Cup in November complete the flat calendar, with Cheltenham in March for the jumps. Show jumping's Global Champions Tour brings a Monaco and a Paris weekend; Badminton in May is eventing's great gathering; Wellington's Winter Equestrian Festival runs twelve weeks from January.

Racecourses publish enclosure dress codes and sell tickets a year ahead; the Royal Enclosure at Ascot is by sponsorship and application. Racing dates are fixed by tradition and rarely move.