★ Qatar Goodwood Festival

01Why it matters

Goodwood is where the British season's formality drops away — six weeks after Ascot, it stops wearing morning dress and puts on a linen suit. In our reading its standing rests on the setting, the best of any racecourse in England, and on its position between the London season and the August coast.

02The week around it

Chichester, five miles south, is the base and the week fills it; the Chichester Festival Theatre runs its summer season concurrently, which makes the evenings unusually good.

03When to arrive

Come Tuesday and stay to Saturday if you can; Saturday has the largest crowd and Wednesday the best racing.

04Where to stay

Chichester is the most useful base, with a walkable center and the theatre; the Goodwood Hotel is on the estate and the Downs villages hold good pubs with rooms.

05Access and hospitality

Gordon and Lennox admission is sold publicly for all five days, with Richmond restricted to Members and their guests and the racecourse's own membership scheme the route in.

06Where the social activity happens

The lawn in front of the grandstand, the parade ring, and the ridge above the straight; the Trundle is public land and people have watched from it free for a century.

07Getting there

08Practicalities

09History

The third Duke of Richmond staged the first meeting in 1802 for the officers of the Sussex Militia, and the family has run it ever since; Goodwood is one of very few major British racecourses still in private hands. Edward VII's description of it as a garden party with racing attached is quoted at the course to this day.

10Who is there

British and Irish owners and trainers, with the sprinting and miling divisions well represented; the Sussex and Hampshire county set; and a large public across Gordon and Lennox.