IF Royal Ascot is transferred to York for the 2005 season, it will be a chance for the meeting to go up market.

No offence to Ascot which, we understand, is an impressive venue. But the Berkshire course does not boast a brand new, five-storey, £20 million state-of-the-art stand. And neither was it voted the best racecourse in the country by the Racegoers' Club and the racehorse Owners' Association last year. These accolades belong to York.

It is already being suggested in some quarters that high society followers of the Season will be horrified by the prospect of travelling North for the Royal Ascot meeting.

They should be reassured that York is not as they imagine. The habit of keeping coal in the bath has all but died out, and many of our hotels offer hot and cold running water.

Besides, our city has all the right racing credentials. The racecourse is well known as the Ascot of the North (although since its recent successes, we may soon have to rename Ascot the "York of the South").

And the city's historic links with racing are, if anything, more impressive than those of its southern counterpart.

Fully 78 years before Ascot's first royal race, Charles I watched his horse race on Acomb Moor. It lost.

Moreover, the 2005 switch would be an opportunity for the Queen to reacquaint herself with York Knavesmire. She was a regular visitor to the races here in the 1970s.

Tourism chiefs, now under a war cloud, will be boosted by the prospect of Royal York races. And the whole city would benefit.

York is never more colourful than on big race days, and residents enjoy spotting footballers and other celebrities in the summer crowds. A royal event would take this excitement to a new level. We bemoaned the lack of spectacle in York this week: what could be more spectacular than the sight of the royal carriage riding down Knavesmire?

And who knows, it might be such a success that the Season would take a northern diversion thereafter.

Updated: 10:24 Friday, March 28, 2003