Top hat top hat is a hard, black silk hat, with fur now often used. The acceptable colors of hats are much as they have traditionally been, with "white" hats (which are actually grey), a daytime racing color, worn at the less formal occasions demanding a top hat, such as Royal Ascot, or with a morning suit. In the U.S. top hats are worn widely in coaching, a driven horse discipline as well as for formal riding to hounds. The collapsible silk opera hat, or "crush hat", is still worn on occasions, and black in color if worn with evening wear as
Chapeau d'Espagne head by Colonel Peel's unnamed filly in the Clearwell Stakes and was unplaced in the Prendergast Stakes three days later. Two weeks later, she appeared at the Newmarket Houghton meeting, which only went ahead after the course was cleared of snow by a team of a hundred men. The Criterion Stakes was one of only three races possible on the opening day, and Chapeau d'Espagne, ridden by her trainer's brother Samuel Day started at odds of 7/4 against eight opponents. In what was described as a "hammer and tongs" finish, Chapeau d'Espagne won by a head from Fantastic. Three days