Millions of pounds will be won and lost this week as one of the biggest events in the social calendar comes under starter's orders.

The Goodwood festival race meeting was due to start this afternoon and by Saturday is expected to have played host to around 100,000 people and set new gambling records.

But the five-day meeting is not just famous for the racing, although the country's top trainers, jockeys and owners will send their finest thoroughbreds in search of a share of a record £1.6 million in prize money.

No, it is the garden party atmosphere of "glorious" Goodwood which has made festival week a firm favourite with punters from all walks of life.

Caterers are expected to serve thousands of meals, ranging from salmon to rack of lamb, washed down by an estimated 10,000 bottles of champagne and 11,000 bottles of wine.

For many Goodwood members it is a chance to sit at the back of the Rolls or Bentley with a picnic.

More than 130,000 pints of beer will be pulled during the festival, which has created 1,100 temporary jobs in the restaurants, bars and giant Tidy Squad.

Racecourse owner Lord March has added to the party atmosphere by hiring a steel band.

In betting shops up and down the country, as well on the track, millions of pounds will change hands.

The Tote also expects a bonanza week after seeing its festival week turnover shoot up by more than five per-cent last year to £2.5 million.

Goodwood is a firm favourite with many stars. Festival week regulars include actor Albert Finney, rock star Bryan Ferry and, if his pre-season duties permit, the racehorse-owning Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson.

Today saw the official opening of Goodwood's new £4 million paddock complex with its amphitheatre-style viewing for 5,000 people.

After racing tomorrow, Goodwood members will be treated to an advance-ticket-only cabaret in the new paddock starring impressionist Rory Bremner.

Racing was first staged at Goodwood in 1801 by the 3rd Duke of Richmond. But he was acting out of a sense of duty to officers of the Sussex Militia rather than any devotion to the Sport of Kings.

For many years the officers had held an annual race in Petworth park but when their invitation was withdrawn Lord March's ancestor came to their rescue.

The race meetings soon attracted royal patronage. It was King Edward VII who put festival week on the map when he said that after the rigid formality of Royal Ascot the event was more like "a garden party with some racing tacked on".