Hats win race event by a head
FANCY hats and fine horses competed for attention yesterday at the celebritypacked L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate horse race in Cape Town.
The long-awaited race day, one of South Africa’s premier social events, attracted a small galaxy of celebrities, including TV presenter Bonang Matheba and former Miss South Africa beauty queens Cindy Nell and Jo-Ann Strauss.
Swimmer heart-throb Ryk Neethling and former Kaizer Chiefs ace Marks Maponyane were both looking “incredibly dapper”, according to one social media commentator.
Many of the racegoers complied with the official dress code colours of blue and white.
The Queen’s Plate is South Africa’s oldest horse-racing event, first run in 1861 in honour of Queen Victoria.
Race organisers are quick to punt the event’s royal lineage. “To this day, Her Majesty retains a keen interest in the race and its outcome, and she is represented here every year by the British High Commissioner,” the souvenir race programme gushed.
This event is also renowned for its “best dressed” and “best hat” competitions — although the southeaster made some of the staggering array of headgear difficult to control yesterday.
Best-hat winners walked away with perfumes and vouchers for clothing and Uber taxi rides. The best-dressed couple won a trip to London, including five nights’ accommodation.