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The black-and-white outfits still dominated but scarlet, gold and pink ensembles made a valiant attempt to break the wall of monochrome.
The Boxing Day races are an Auckland institution that is as much about fashion as it is about horses.
The atmosphere at Ellerslie yesterday was summer hot, the air scented with a faint mixture of horse manure and perfume.
Traditionally, the races signal the start of the three-day New Zealand Herald Christmas Carnival. And while the horses vied for more than $700,000 in prizemoney on the track, more drama of a different sort was taking place for the 150 entrants in Fashions in the Field.
First on the platform was Anne Watts in a gold outfit bought in Paris. "I'm nervous but at least I don't have to be as nervous for as long."
Auckland man Robbie Harrison made the effort with an Escena Moda suit and a Louis Vuitton dog carrier filled with that celebrity accessory - a chihuahua cross - but it was only enough to get him into the semifinals.
Arthur Smith, from Waiheke, scooped the men's category with his Kiwiana-themed outfit comprising a pink and blue striped suit, neon pink shirt, blue tie and pink Jandals.
"It's fun, it's what the Boxing Day races are about," he said.
The winner of the new avant-garde category was 16-year-old Sian Palmer, who made her My Fair Lady Ascot Races-inspired net dresswith laminated paper doilies.
But the big winner of the day was Claire Faulkner. Her entry was an off-the-rack muted pink and black gown from her workplace, Newmarket store Drop Dead Gorgeous.
"I thought I might have a chance in the under-25s but then to take the Supreme award is just incredible."
Her colleagues had helped to choose the dress, and the hat was a Kevin Berkahn creation.
"I just gave him my dress and he did it in a week," Ms Faulkner said. "No stress or anything at all."
Chief judge Francis Hooper, from the fashion label World, said Ms Faulkner's entry was innovative.
"She's a beautiful woman and the long flowing gown was really fresh, new and exciting - something we haven't seen for a long time, so that's why she won. She took a risk."
The calibre of entries was high, particularly among the under-25s. "It's been a good, good year."
Ellerslie Racing Club chief executive Chris Weaver said good weather brought out the biggest crowd to the races since the 1980s.
