NOTHING stays the same except the mountains in Killarney” is a saying I utter to myself now and again when routines or circumstances change.

At the minute, we are all bemoaning the weather, everyone says the year is flying and The Kingdom have a big game against Armagh this weekend to hold on to Sam Maguire. No change there then!

The third Monday in June is upon us and that means the circus wagons roll on to County Berkshire for Royal Ascot week.

Back to Windsor town to my brilliant minders Steve and Ann Barry via the Cork iron-bird to Heathrow and our annual trip to Windsor races this evening, with a few pints in The Trooper Bar afterwards and we are set for the few days.

Tuesday

Of all the press rooms on the circuit, Royal Ascot is my favourite. Along with catching up with all our English colleagues, the meeting brings a huge international contingent of photographers and this year is no different.

From Australia, we have Bronwen Healy (long lost cousin, she tells me!) and Darren Tindale. America is led by Kentucky girl Mathea Kelly. From France, we have Jean Charles Briens and Zuzanna Lupa, Germany have Frank Sorge here and, of course, the Japanese are well represented with Yoshihisa Maeda leading their parade. Throw in the journalists and TV folk and there is a great buzz about the room.

We have three Irish winners on the pitch and witness a memorable St James’s Palace Stakes with Bow Echo and Gstaad split by a short head, giving 20-year-old Thurles-born jockey Billy ‘The Kid’ Loughnane a second Group 1 success of the year.

Aidan O’Brien and the Ballydoyle team share a double with Great Barrier Reef in the Coventry, Aidan’s 12th success in the race, and Mission Central, bred by Michael O’Leary’s Gigginstown House Stud, wins the Group 1 King Charles Stakes under Ryan Moore, giving Aidan his 98th Royal success.

Extraordinary

Coolmore boss John Magnier is in attendance today and he heaps praise on his trainer by telling us, “he is extraordinary. He is rewriting history books, but the main thing is, his head is still the same size”!

Kizlyar, at odds of 25/1, gets trainer Joseph O’Brien and jockey Joey Sheridan on the scoreboard, winning the Ascot Stakes for the HOS Syndicate and owner Margaret Heffernan is here with her grandkids to celebrate. It’s an emotional few minutes for Margaret, who lost her husband Andrew 12 weeks ago and whose idea it was to grow the syndicate for days like this, so he and Margaret could enjoy the company of the grandchildren.

It’s a maiden success for Holyford native Joey, a past graduate of the pony racing ranks and he is sporting ‘Healy Racing’ breeches, giving us our first Royal winner also!

The car park is hopping after racing and I meet up with Brendan and Anne Marie Sheridan, John and Marie Banahan, Richard and Alice Blake and Jean Erritty for a few sociables.

Our auld pal Justin ‘Spartacus’ Flood is in great form on his maiden Royal Ascot trip working for bookmaker Seamus Mulvany, who has a picnic with all his team including more first-timers with Sean ‘The Stonethrower’ McAllister and his son Shane, better known as ‘Pebbles’.

Wednesday

The O’Brien clan keep the flag flying today with another three winners taking the Irish total to six for the meeting.

Both Aidan and Ryan Moore heap praise on Queen Mary winner Victorious, who has only vision in one eye after a cataract episode early in her career.

Ballylinch Stud manager John O’Connor is on hand to welcome back Joseph’s first winner of day, Limestone with Dylan ‘Donegal’ Browne McMonagle in the plate, jointly owned with Valmont and Al Shaqab, and in the final race of the day, King Of Cloughan brings up Joseph’s double under Billy ‘The Kid’ Loughnane for well-known Loughrea and Chanelle veterinary owner, Michael Burke, who is on hand to lead him in.

After racing, the car park is heaving, with Con Marnane and Peter Kelly hosting their 25th gathering for the Irish community.

Fair play to the boys, nobody ever seems to be without a refreshment and it’s always brilliant craic. How many bottles do you need to water the Irish continent? 250 bottles of champagne and 950 cans of beer is the total, I’m told! Here’s to another 25 years for the boys.

I swop a few with Denis Hogan, Ian McCarthy and wife Nikki and Mark ‘Fish’ Enright before meeting up with Richard and Lizzie Hughes, whose kids Harvey and Phoebe are running a ‘heads or tails’ betting school, along with all their friends at their picnic.

Plenty of scores and tenners flying, but unfortunately for them, they lose all their winnings from the day to the older duo of Martin ‘Cavan Man’ Clarke and Gerry ‘The Fish’ O’Shea.

Thursday

On arrival this morning, I take a mosie around the enclosures, checking it all out from The Royal Enclosure through The Queen Anne enclosure, all the way down to the four-furlong marker and The Windsor enclosure.

There is some amount of bars and food outlets for the masses and I notice a lot more hydration points, with free water for racegoers.

The Front Runner Grill serves up a double cheeseburger for £13 with chips an extra £5. In the Nijinsky bar, you can sup a gluten-free Peroni for £7.20, a Grey Goose Vodka is £7.80 or a Coke for £2.70.

Down in the Windsor Enclosure, the queues for the gates to open at 10.30am are packed with racegoers all laden down with deckchairs and picnic hampers.

The Danedream Bar will serve you a pint of Guinness for £7 or a bottle of Moet Rose Imperial for £130, with The Toastie Wagon alongside it, you can munch a classic ham and cheese for £9 or the Italian pepperoni and cheese also £9.

What a race

I know we all suffer from recency bias, but lads, as the young ones would say “OMG”! What a horse race we witnessed.

The Gold Cup provides Aidan O’Brien and Ballydoyle with their 100th Royal success, when Scandinavia under Ryan Moore shaded Trawlerman and William Buick by a head.

For me anyway, it was hairs on the back of the neck stuff. Normally, when you are shooting a race, you don’t hear the crowd or feel the atmosphere, but by God I did today. With a crowd of 69,000 people, it was pure magic.

Joseph O’Brien added a fourth success for the meeting with Enceladus for the Niarchos family and it’s great to see Fozzy Stack in the winner’s enclosure, when the evergreen Seamie Heffernan guided home Nola Soul in the Chesham, owned by American Craig Bernick. That’s nine Irish winners after three days, fair play.

Many of you will know by now, I bang the Royal Ascot drum whenever I get the chance and it’s always great to meet people having their maiden voyage here.

There truly is no meeting like it and no one is ever disappointed. The racing, the pageantry, the fashion, the tradition. All the ingredients needed for an unforgettable race meeting. Like the Killarney mountains, thankfully, Royal Ascot stays monumental.