To use a racing cliché – horses for courses.
For a gaff tracks no there is probably no need for a dress code but for the top tracks why not?
Why not have an enclosure with minimum standards, where people can pay a premium if they wish? As long as there is an alternative with a more relaxed dress code?
It is called choice and yes it does add to the occasion.
Pass the sickbag! Snobbery lives! The use of the terms gaff and top says it all.
Standards of behaviour are of far more concern to me than standards of dress. Only the very foolish would equate behaviour with dress. When I was a teacher there were frequent arguments about school uniform but the difference it made in terms of what happened in the classroom was zero, from my experience.
I don’t wear a tie, not through choice but as the result of an operation to treat throat cancer. I am not prepared to get into an argument with some course staff as to why I can’t meet the code.It is not a matter of choice!