Entebbe Sailing Club was not a suitable venue so Kampala Rugby Club was approached and they agreed to allow the event to be held at their grounds. Over the years the growth in scale and rising costs involved in setting up the venue led to the decision to make the event a full-day affair and model it on the famous Royal Ascot Horse Races in England complete with all the trimmings – most importantly the opportunity to dress for the occasion with particular emphasis on impressive and unusual hats.

In 1999 the huge growth in the popularity of the event made it necessary to move to a bigger venue. Speke Resort, Munyonyo was the only site in Kampala big enough to host the event and this has been the home of the Royal Ascot Goat Races ever since. The first goat races in1993 were attended by about 400 people, in 2005 the event attracted a crowd of over 7,000 and raised more than ten million shillings for local charities.

This ever increasing growth has meant that the nature of the event has also evolved. The early races were somewhat in the style of a traditional English village fete, run by an unpaid committee to raise money for Entebbe Sailing Club and attended mainly by club members and their friends. With the increase in the scale of the races Entebbe Sailing Club also began to donate some of the proceeds to charity.

The modern event is multinational with many hospitality tents, catering outlets, children’s amusements and of course, the races. By 2004 it became too large to be regarded as just a charity fund raising event and was obliged to register as a company - Royal Ascot Goat Races Ltd. In 2005 Entebbe Sailing Club sold the company as they could no longer cope with the ever increasing demands of running the event, which by now required the services of a full time event organiser plus part time assistants for several months each year. Some long standing residents mourn this evolution of the races from local fete to the Uganda’s main fun event of the year. A victim of its own success!

As the event has blossomed in popularity it has been copied and similar races are now held in Dar es Salaam and Nairobi. There is also a long standing goat racing tradition on the Caribbean island of Tobago - the Buccoo Goat Races. Held every Easter since 1925 they differ from our races in that the goats are trained to run on leads alongside their trainers.

Despite the changes the fundamental aim of the Royal Ascot Goat Races continues to be to have lots of fun and contribute to Ugandan charities. We hope that you will join in - enter a goat and maybe win a big cash prize, buy raffle tickets with the chance to win a high value holiday and of course dress to kill and win a prize for your taste in fashion.