Some things at Ascot never change - the finery and snobbery, the picnics and the drunkards, great horses that half the folk never see. But one significant change is evident in the relative size of crowds during the meeting.

Two years ago, an aggregate of 106,000 turned up on the first two days.

This year and last, the total barely crept above 80,000. The crush now comes at the end of the week. Saturday's card, which once did not even form part of the Royal programme, will now draw the biggest figure of the meeting, while Friday is ever more popular as the day out for London lads.

If Thursday is traditionally Ladies' Day (though Ascot, curiously, denies it has ever officially called it that!), the demographic alters appreciably for Day 4.

Of late, it has become a bolthole for City slickers kicking off their weekends early, so it will be fascinating to see if this year's crowd is hit by the economic climate. One racecourse told me this week that a number of banks - big corporate customers - had cancelled all their bookings for the year as they can no longer be seen to be "squandering" money on entertaining.

To the uninitiated, or those who follow it only through the gossip and diary columns or by watching the affected snobbery of James Sherwood on BBC TV, there is nothing at Royal Ascot beyond the Royal Enclosure. In fact, this elite area comprises less than 20 per cent of the capacity. The greater fun, especially on Ladies' Day, can be had in the cheap area known as the Silver Ring.

Here, you will not only find hen parties who really know how to enjoy themselves but groups of elderly women in their church-best, who have not missed a Thursday at Ascot since the last King was on the throne.

It will be different on Friday. Bawdier, louder, gruffer, possibly messier.

Out on the course, the racing plateaus with a card that suffers by comparison with other days. The big event is the Coronation Stakes for fillies and there is a fair chance it will be won by the anti-hero of this year's Derby, Jim Bolger.

Many may recall the furore caused by Bolger initially ruling the favourite, New Approach, out of the race and speaking in a way that disdained the Derby itself. He changed his mind five days before the great race and saw his victorious horse return to a reception muted by disapproval.

Bolger's Coronation Stakes runner, Lush Lashes, also went to Epsom and was only fifth in the Oaks but drops back to a mile today. If she wins, the crowd may not exactly roar her in - but that would say more about the distracted Ascot crowd than about Bolger.