2
USE OUR CAREER SELECTOR TOOL UCBREAKTHROUGH.COM.AU Ho li da y not essent ial for race goers to part y ByBenWestcott and DevonMcGillicuddy THOROUGHBRED PARK FLASH ESOF GLAMOUR:GraceLarkin , ofCampbell,left,and LucyHarringt on,of Weet angerr a,wear theirbright estsmilesfor a dayat theraces. Photo s:GRAHAMTIDY ONTRACK: LucyCroke,left,of Narra bundahand Wamboin’ s Tan yaDaviswithdaughterGabriel,2. COURSECOUPLE: Paig eLowman,of Monas h,and SamRichard son,of Kamb ah,arrivein style . SEE THE PHOTO GALLERY ONLINE & iPAD Itisno longerapubli cholid ayin the capit albut thatdid notstop thous andsof peop leconverg ingon ThoroughbredParkon Tuesd ay for the MelbourneCup celebrations. Morethan6000peoplegatheredat thetra ckbutmanyhadtoskipwork orschoolto cele brateinstyle. The Canber raTimes spoke to race goer swho hadgoneto grea t lengt hsto ensu rethey woul d be enjo yingthe sunand drink s. Alex Hatchfrom Kambahsaid after atten dingthe even t lastyearhe was notgoingto missit thisyear.‘‘My bosssaidno,so I begg edfor two weeksand shefi nally said yes,’ ’ he said. Manypuntersandracingstaffsaid theeventhad suffe redsincethe remo valof thepublicholidayin the ACT. Jacko ’sCatering owner,Jack McGr ath,saidhe hadworkedatthe eve ntfor10 yea rs,butit wasnotthe sameas itusedtobe.‘‘Whenitwasa publ icholidayit wasa smas h,’ ’ he said.‘‘F orsure,if itwas a publ ic holidaypeople wouldbe here.’’ A numberof university and TAFE stud entsskippe d theirclass esto atten dthe even t. ‘‘We shou ldhave apublicholiday inste adof Fami lyDay, ’’TAFEstuden t RochelleLawrie said.‘‘It’sjust stupid. Plusit’ s inthe middl eof theschool holidays.’’ ACT Policesaid the day wasvery quietandracegoe rson thewhole actedappropriately,despite some punte rsdrinkingas earlyas11am. ‘‘Very , very well-behavedcrowd,’ a policespokeswoman said.‘‘But we’ll contin ueto watchallthe post - celebrationantics. It’ s about not drink ingso muchyoubecomea nuisance.’’ Book make rsreporteda quietday , with bookieJeff Strangsaying: ‘‘It’ s beenterrib le,theworst it’ sbeen since Ican reme mber .It’sabouthalfof what wet ooki n last year.So muchf or the return of consumerconfidence.’’ MrStranghadexpecte d betti ngto pic kup onc ethestartfortheCup appr oache d,but it didnot happ en. ‘‘I t’ sbeen flatall day ,’’ hesaid. Thereactio n fromraceg oerswas overwhelminglypositive. Canb erra nsDavid Kauf manand MarcMinatosaidit wasa great excu seto chillandhave somebeers . ‘‘I t’ sa chanc eto seeeveryo nedresse d upandit’ salsotheonedayofthe year you can spenda bit of money andget awaywithit,’’Mr Minato said. Universitystudent MaddyThorne saidshehad beenlookin gforwardto thisday forsometime. ‘‘ I’mfinally18,so I canactuallyget dres sedup andhavea girls ’ day ,’ ’ she said.‘‘I t’ s justfun,the atmos pher eis incredible.’’ Emily heads best-dr essed list on a day at the ponies ByBenWestcot t TOP EFFORT : Emil y Dibde n wasnamedthe Fas hionin theFieldwinner . FASHION Some might say that 2013 Fashion in the Field winner Emily Dibden had an unfair advantage over her com- petition – after all, she is a profes- sional model. The 20-ye ar-ol d Cook resi dent, who works for Victoria’s Models, said she liked trying something a bit different with her outfits. ‘‘I like to go a little quirky,’’ she said. Ever y year Thor oughb red Par k holds a fashion competition on Mel- bourne Cup day, celebrating Canber- rans who have dress ed up in their brightest and best for the race day. Ms Dibden won the Ladies division yesterday , taking home a prize pack- age, including a Myer gift card and a gold membership to Zaija day spa. Kod y Leigh of Stirling took out second plac e, and Far rer resid ent Lucy Hoolihan came third. Both said it was a nice surprise to be chosen. Men ’s divisi on winne r Andr ew Stead has been a serial contender for some time and finall y won today after five years of trying. The 30-year- old Belco nnen resi dent said ther e had been a heated debate between him and his girlfrie nd over his tie choi ce , and he was gl ad to be vindicated. ‘‘We enjoy coming to the races, it’s always a fun day,’’ he said. Second place went to Sam McGlowne of Braidwood and third to Dan Posch of Latham. Friends Rebecca Lavaki and Joey Colebatch were awarded the Classic Couple’ s Racewear award, despite only deciding to enter several hours beforehand. After bumping into each othe r coinc ident ally , they real ised they actually matched pretty well. ‘‘It was a good fun day and I’m glad we cou ld make the most of it, ’’ Mr Colebatch said. Judge and Myer Face of Canberra Racin g, Kate Goodw in, said all the candidates this year had been excel- lent. ‘‘It was really high quality, very hard to judge,’’ she said. ‘‘We went for the ones who had a really polished look, down to the fine details. It was a bit of a high standard this year.’’ MELBOURNE CUP DA Y 5 THE CANBERRA TIMES Wednesday , November 6, 2013 www.canberratimes.com.au At long last, it’s Gai’s time: Oli ver , F ior ente win for Waterhouse stable FromPage1 HOMECOMING: Dami enOliveron Fior entesalute sthe Flemingto n crowd . FAMILY: Gai’ s sonTom,hiswifeHodaVakil i andGai’ sdaught erKateandhusban dLukeRickets on. It is a startling thing for a Melbourne Cup- winning jockey to be booed, but the hard markers among the crowd could not forget that Oliver had been pinged last year for bettin g ona horse in thesamerace in which he was riding another contender. Still, Melbourne’s weather was as kind as it has been for years. Blue sky, warm late- spring sunshine and the merest of breezes ensured a crowd so dense it seemed near to impos sibleto navig atethe lawns , thestands and the enclosures. By midday Flemingto n was alive with 75,000 souls, and by early afternoon it had reac hedits capa cityof 110,0 00;as pack edas the city’s streets were empty. It was, as ever, a costume party – a great surging multicoloured sea of millinery and couture adorn ing decolletage and par- tnered with the determinedly sober suits of Melbourne men whose concession to col- our seems limited to their neckties, apart fromthosefew in outra geou s spoo f get-u ps, polka dot pants and banan as in pyjamas among them. If there was pleasure in the effusion of colour beneath the flawless sky, there was pain, too, surely, for the tens of thousands of wome n trippi ng acro ss the lawns in heels that this year appear to have reached the limits of physics. Most of them bore the self-imposed agony with the sort of determined courage to be found among those unhappy souls screwing up useless betting slips and shrugging it all away, but ther e wer e thos e who succumbe d, too, seeking any bench available to rest, loosen ankle straps or aband on their footwear altogether. The benches around the Fash- ions on the Fiel d arena and the lanewa y leading from the heaving Birdcage seemed in particular demand for such relief duties. By day’s end, the trains packed with the weary, the winners and losers and those stamina-infused still roistering, Flemington was, as always at the tail of a Cup, a sea of drained plastic containers, tossed bottles of sweet sparkling wine, discarded stubbies, the occasional lost shoe and here and there, entanglements of over-indulged bodies. There were shriek s, too, from those dete rmined that such a day of party ing should not be abandoned, not yet, but the sound of it could not hold a candle to the great, all-enveloping shriek of a crowd of 100,0 00 or so howling the horses of the Melbourne Cup to the line. We won’t hear the like of it again for another year.
