Unlike other great sporting events the standards upheld by Goodwood officialdom have not been allowed to wane and unless freakishly hot temperatures are recorded, gentlemen will not be permitted to remove their blazers or jackets in the members' enclosure.
That the course remains in a glorious time-warp is part of the attraction of this Pimm's-drinking festival.
Jockey Johnny Murtagh is the man of the moment with 13 wins at the top level this season and he is going to have legions of followers on the Sussex Downs this week, but the bookmakers believe it is far from a forgone conclusion that he will end the meeting as top rider.
Ryan Moore has a terrific book of rides and the layers are having difficulty in separating the pair.
Murtagh will be an incredibly busy jockey over the five days as William Hill also quote him as a 12-1 shot to be leading jockey at the seven-day Galway Festival which kicks off tonight.
But despite all of the excitement generated by this unique racing showpiece there are dark clouds looming. Racing is set to make all the wrong headlines again if, as expected, Wednesday night's Panorama programme - the second to investigate the sport - has evidence of any wrongdoing.
No one outside the Panorama team knows exactly what the programme will reveal but, given that it has been titled Racing's Dirty Secrets, the second expose on the sport of kings in six years looks certain to be damaging.
British Horseracing Authority chief executive Nic Coward is as apprehensive as anyone in racing as to what Panorama will bring to light but insists the BHA have gone out of their way to assist the programme's producers.
He said: "I don't know what they're going to try to do or say, but I'm assuming they will seek to highlight corruption in and around racing. We have been completely open with them."
As racing looks set to endure another roller-coaster week let's hope that Goodwood is as glorious as ever and the top quality horses, jockeys and trainers on show help to keep the potentially bad headlines off the sports pages.
