Stunner Sam is a leading lady at Aintree...
OLYMPIC women’s hockey heroine Sam Quek stood out in the fashion stakes at Aintree’s sun-soaked Ladies Day yesterday.
The I’m A Celebrity star was hailed as the new queen of Aintree as Grand National festival regular Coleen Rooney missed her annual day out racing.
Gold medallist Sam, 28, of Wirral, Merseyside, looked stunning in a classy white dress with black shoulders by Liverpool designer Philip Armstrong, accessorised with a black hat, as she headed a team of judges to rule on the day’s most stylish lady.
The panel decided that the crown should go to 64-year-old racegoer Faith Amond, from Co Carlow, in Ireland.
The mother of three, who wore a red and pink outfit with a striking red fascinator, Chanel pearls and a red handbag and gloves, scooped a £35,000 Range Rover Evoque and £1,000 of shopping vouchers.
The judging process involved hundreds of people having photos taken which were then assessed by Quek and her fellow judges, including soprano Laura Wright and fashion designers Philip and Tony Armstrong
The panel whittled the entries down to a top 10 who were called back to the Red Rum tent for further judging before the winner was announced.
After being told of her victory Mrs Amond, who makes her own hats, said: “I still can’t believe I’ve won. It’s such an honour.”
She revealed she had picked the outfit from clothes she already owned but had bought flowers from the garden centre to add to her hat.
It is the 15th successive year that she has been to the world-famous race meeting.
She said: “Twelve years ago I had breast cancer and I was on chemotherapy for a year and I came here, wig and all, that year.
“Obviously I’d lost my hair so I managed to get the wig and get the hat and all the rest and managed to get here because at the time what I was going through, it wasn’t easy, but I thought I’m going to go to
Aintree. So I didn’t even miss it that year.” Pastel colours were all the rage as female racegoers turned on the style while men opted for classic three-piece suits and tweed.
Today’s big race is expected to be a recordbreaker with more than £250million placed in bets. The National’s famous daunting fences should be bathed in sunshine with temperatures of 62.6F (17C) forecast for the showpiece event. Bookmakers Coral, Ladbrokes and Paddy Power said the warm weather and the race’s switch to ITV from Channel 4 with the later 5.15pm start will result in one in four Britons enjoying a bet.
More than 15 million UK viewers are due to tune into ITV’s coverage of the race – with 600 million watching worldwide – along with the 70,000 racegoers at the track.