Marlborough, to be ridden by his regular jockey Mick Fitzgerald, provided one of the early spectacles of the season in last year's Charlie Hall by recovering from a blunder to beat Hussard Collonges and Gingembre.
Other special guests include presenters Leonard Maltin, who will introduce The Battle of the Century and Other Comedy Restorations program, and actress Illeana Douglas, who will introduce Destiny (1921), an early spectacle by Fritz Lang.
According to the Annals of Tacitus: in order that the impressive character of the work might be viewed by a larger number of visitants, a naval battle was arranged upon the lake itself, on the model of an earlier spectacle given by Augustus – though with light vessels and a smaller force ".
One unusual example of a popular showboat of this early period was the Floating Circus Palace of Spaulding and Rodgers (built 1851) that featured large-scale equestrian spectacles.
"The idea behind the Zoo TV tour was to create an absolute bombardment of the audience with videos," Fisher said of U2's groundbreaking early '90s spectacle.
But none of this distracted from the weird awe of the early-morning spectacle.
In his 1938 book he recalled, apparently from years earlier, "the spectacle of the upper part of the Woolworth Building, wired up with metal mesh to catch the falling terra cotta".
(Its impact can be traced in the films of Cecil B. DeMille as well as Sergei Eisenstein). Its vast re-creation of the open court of King Belshazzar with its rows of soaring columns, topped by elephants with upraised trunks, is the most familiar set of the entire silent era and remains emblematic of the barbaric grandeur of the early screen spectacles.
In contrast to today's endless endurance test, earlier presidential spectacles lasted for much shorter periods and were, therefore, more memorable.
This is spectacle all right.
