The Races

[Kiwithrottlejockey]

[Kiwithrottlejockey]

from The Dominion Post....

No shortage of glamour and sophistication at Wellington Cup Day

Punters were out in hoardes on Saturday for a stunner of a day
at Trentham Racecourse, and some competed on the catwalk.

By MEGAN GATTEY | 4:00PM - Sunday, January 24, 2016


LEFT: Olivia Moor of Auckland took out the Supreme winner of Fashion in the Field. | CENTER: Fashion in the field Man of
the Carnival regional winner Volker Grunert's black and white ensemble matched the flowers. | RIGHT: Annah Stretton
Sophisticated Woman of the Carnival Wellington winner Beverley Charlton. — Photographs: Monique Ford/Fairfax NZ.

THERE WAS no shortage of class at this year's Wellington Cup Day as thousands of race-goers turned Trentham Racecourse into a sea of cocktail dresses,tweed, canes, and top hats.

A crowd of about 15,000 showed up to celebrate the annual jewel in the Wellington Racing Club's crown on Saturday.

Julia Shardlow, the racing club's marketing manager, said the crowd, which included some members of the Blackcaps cricket team and Hurricanes Super Rugby team, was very well behaved.

“It was a day when sporting codes all came together in a really phenomenal way.”

Police were generally happy with the event as well. A spokesman for the Wellington District Command Centre said there were only two arrests and no reports of any problematic behaviour as a result of Cup Day.

Mister Impatience charged to victory in the Wallaceville Estate Wellington Cup race.

But as well as the horses, eyes were also on Wellington's Gazley Volkswagen Fashion in the Field competition.


The Black Sticks model on the Fashion in the Field stage. — Photograph: Monique Ford/Fairfax NZ.

Beverley Charlton was the first contestant on stage at Wellington Cup Day's Gazley Volkswagen Fashion in the Field, and she ended up being the Wellington region winner and driving off with a brand new VW Polo GTI for a year.

Charlton, of Oriental Bay, said she only entered because her husband asked her to after he survived aggressive leukaemia last year.

Her husband, Warren Charlton, said, “We had a very tough year last year, so now we're going to have a very good one.”

She said tears sprung to her eyes when she found out she was the overall Wellington region winner.

“I never thought I would win against all these young women.”

Her entire Ted Baker outfit was 40 percent off from Kirkcaldie & Stains at its closing sale.

She said the car she won would make “a fantastic shopping trolley”.


Fashion in the field Man of the Carnival Regional Winner, Volker Grunert, in All White with black hat
third from right. — Photograph: Monique Ford/Fairfax NZ.

An outsider won the overall race — Aucklander Olivia Moor was crowned the supreme winner.

She said she was completely shocked to have won.

“I didn't think I had a hope in hell against all of the other amazing entrants.”

Her mother sewed the dress for her out of vintage material she had at home, the shoes and bag were from Zara, and the hat was vintage.

Moor won a trip for two to the Victoria Racing Club Crown Oaks race day in Melbourne, including flights, accommodation and spending money, and entry into the Prix de Fashion finals at Ellerslie, including flights and accommodation.

Supreme Runner Up Eleanor Campbell got $1,000 worth of shopping vouchers from Westfield Queensgate.

Judge Mary-Ellen Imlach, Massey University fashion department team manager, said it was difficult picking the category winners.

“But it has been an absolutely wonderful day, and it has been incredible to see the creativity involved and effort people have gone to.”

Judge Nicola Provost agreed, saying that attention to detail and a sense of confidence also helped.


For those not entering fashion in the field the day was all about fun in the sun.
 — Photograph: Monique Ford/Fairfax NZ.

WELLINGTON WINNERS

Annah Stretton Sophisticated Woman of the Carnival: Beverley Charlton.

Outfit cost: About $1,000.

Westfield Queensgate Under 25 Women of the Carnival: Nina Domanski.

Outfit cost: About $200, with a priceless couture headpiece.

Best Dressed Man of the Carnival: Volker Grunet.

Outfit cost: About $500 in London, but it would have cost $3500 if bought new.

Buoy Hairdressing Classic Lady of the Carnival: Kate Bryant.

Outfit cost: About $550, mostly from her vintage store in Ziggurat.

__________________________________________________________________________

Read more on this topic:

 • Wellington Cup: Glamour, fashion, stars, 5000 prawns

 • Fashion on the field: Hurricanes double as fashion experts at Wellington Cup Day

 • And they're off: cup day launches with stars, fashion in downtown Wellington

 • Tips for Wellington Cup day punters and Fashion in the Field competitors

http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/capital-life/76191501

[Kiwithrottlejockey]

from The Dominion Post....

The feudal eroticism of a day at the races

By JANE BOWRON | 5:00AM - Monday, 25 January 2016


High fashion and high heels at Wellington Cup Day. — Photograph: Monique Ford/Fairfax NZ.

FEUDAL, erotic, weather vulnerable — a day out at the races is above all else a wonderful airing of both body and spirit.

You can stick your casinos with their no windows or clocks so the addict carries on punting at the tables and pokies till the cows come home, going to the races works on so many different levels.

Even before you set foot on the track there's all the neurotic pre-race organisation of an ensemble that has to pace muster — a hat that can be tarted up with a scarf or a bit of net, and most importantly hoof-ware that doesn't hobble you but isn't so flat that it looks corrective.

It doesn't matter how many discarded garments you left in a scramble, dumped on the bed from a last minute crisis of confidence, the dress you finally decided on will pale in comparison to the wealth of sartorial rig-outs to be admired and bitched about as it waltzes past your orbs in the splendor in the grass of the human birdcage.

Not only do you have to make an effort with the hat, shoes and bag, if you're wearing something sexy and backless you have to have decent back health.

As I overheard one chap say to another about a woman wearing a frock with an eye-catching back plunge: “Looks tasty from a distance but up close you'd have to be into moles.”

I was going to be impertinent enough as to penetrate the privacy of their conversation to enquire, “Do you mean huckory ones or those of the black wart variety?” but good manners and a needs must stampede to the short-term market of the tote forbade me.

Having mostly attended the races from the democracy of the public stand, this year it was from the vantage point of a hospitality arena where you could get up close and personal with the gee gees.

Not in a Catherine the Great kind of way, I hasten to add, but to see them walk past with a silked jockey in saddle, only to witness their post race return naked and unadorned by human bondage the sweat glistening off the ripple of their thoroughbred bodies. Cor.

It's all about flesh at the races, whether it's of the equine variety or human, with many erring females breaking the basic sartorial rule of doubling down on both cleavage and short skirt.

It's supposed to be one or the other to prevent male eye jam as the confused species literally doesn't know where to look.

The races are sex on stick where it's perfectly all right to have a perv as you hear the unmistakable sound of male necks snapping at the erotic spectacle of women at the height of their powers nudging the boundaries of good taste, confident in the knowledge that anything goes at the races, as long as you've made an effort.

After all it's summer time and the living is easy and that show of flesh at the start of the day that looked so porcelain can turn pinkly porcine at the end of it when the old current bun's had a good go at it. Ouch.

That's when the wisely ‘covereds’ who look on smugly in their mother-of-the-bride outfits tsk tsk and turn to each other and say “They'll pay for it tomorrow” as they wistfully remember the glory of a former era when they too had their day in the sun.

Incidentally, one “leg man” male friend has informed me that the best position on a race course is to station oneself at the bottom of a grandstand to watch the mass exodus of women in short skirts, their army of toned, tanned legs putting himin mind of Marcel Duchamp's Modernist classic painting Nude Descending a Staircase number 2.

All clothes aside (as the nudist actress said to the bishop) there's an abundance of ecstasy and agony to cop on course when the punters lose the shirts off their backs cursing the nag that ran like a hairy dog, or take on the look of pure unbridled joy as the chosen one and its sainted rider breasts the tape and all the Christmases have come at once.

Even the most quince-faced and haughty control freak breaks form and yippees themselves into an orgasm of winners' delight. I don't mean to mention HRH and orgasm in the same sentence but you'll never see the Queen so ebullient and unmasked than when her horsey tears down the straight to the finish line.

As the three happy punters behind me punched the air with jubilant fist winning pumps they yelled out that their victory meant they wouldn't be turning up for work on Monday.

The loser rest of us muttered uncharitably to each other: “Duh… Monday's a public holiday in Wellington.”

http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/comment/columnists/76199307

[guest49]

How the hell do they spin out a 5 sentence story into ½ a book?
That's what I want to know.

[nitpicker1]

How the hell do they spin out a 5 sentence story into ½ a book?
That's what I want to know.

Me too!

[Kiwithrottlejockey]

(click on the picture to read the news story)

[Kiwithrottlejockey]

from The Dominion Post....

Wairarapa turns on perfect day for Castlepoint
beach races and Harvest Festival

Horses, Sand, Wine — crowds lap up top conditions
in Wairarapa for a bit of a punt and a tipple.

By CALEB HARRIS | 11:04PM - Sunday, 13 March 2016


The Castlepoint races are held every year, if the weather conditions have left enough sand
on the beach for it to be safe. — Photograph: Caleb Harris/Fairfax NZ.

A BIG CROWD has once again watched racehorses fly down a sandy beach under a mild autumn sun, as the Castlepoint races' golden run continued.

About 1,500 punters lined the beach at the Wairarapa settlement on Saturday, the fifth year in a row wind, tide and sand conditions have been good enough for the annual event to go ahead.

It was only possible in two of the previous ten years, Castlepoint Racing Club president Andy Pottinger said.

“Five in a row is quite amazing.”

It looked unlikely as recently as Thursday, he said.

“We had a gale, gusts over 160 kilometres an hour, it was almost impossible to stand up on the beach. But today, it came up magic.”


Horses hit their stride in Saturday's Castlepoint beach races in Wairarapa.
 — Photograph: Caleb Harris/Fairfax NZ.

The crowd was entertained between the eight races with kids' games, a three-legged race, a fashion contest and the Undie 100 sprints.

Kayla Veenendaal​ of Whanganui, on the appropriately named Sea King, took out the feature Castlepoint Cup.

From this year the event will donate $2,500 to the Life Flight Trust, which operates the Westpac Rescue Helicopter.

Pottinger said it was the ideal cause for the settlement to support, given its location 50 minutes drive east of Masterton.

“The helicopter's been out here four times this year already, it's our lifeline.”

SOLD-OUT HARVEST FESTIVAL


Enjoying Saturday's Harvest Festival near Carterton are “superhero wine appreciators”, from left,
Rowena “Robin” Patterson, Cath “Captain Aotearoa” Cameron, Jannine “Clark Kent” Atkinson
and Kylie “Batgirl” Mole. — Photograph: Caleb Harris/Fairfax NZ.

Spectator numbers were down slightly on last year, possibly partly due to the popularity of another Wairarapa autumn event, the Harvest Festival near Carterton.

All 2,000 tickets sold for the tenth edition of the festival, which marks the start of the grape-picking season.

Among those sampling the wine, food and music at The Cliffs reserve beside the Ruamahanga River were 30 friends from Wairarapa, Wellington and Christchurch, dressed as female super-heroes.

“It's not only about loving wine, it's about fun and being together — and creating a bit of a stir,” said the group's organiser Kylie Mole.

• Castlepoint Racing Club Inc (Facebook page)

• Upcoming Events in Castlepoint

• Wairarapa Wines Harvest Festival

__________________________________________________________________________

Read more on this topic:

 • Wild Wairarapa weather to clear for Castlepoint beach Races and Harvest Festival

 • Castlepoint races mark of country summer

 • Wairarapa's weekend merry-go-round

 • Full stride at Castlepoint races

http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/77821186

[Kiwithrottlejockey]

from the Wairarapa Times-Age....

King of Castlepoint: From scamp to victor

By GARY CAFFELL | 9:40AM - Monday, March 14, 2016


Minister of Racing Nathan Guy, centre, with 2016 Castlepoint Cup winner Sea King, jockey Kayla
Veenendaal and seven-time trainer of cup winners, Kevin Myers. — Photograph: Chris Kilford.

WHANGANUI trainer Kevin Myers saddled the winner of the CR Grace Ltd Castlepoint Cup for the fifth successive time on Saturday, and the seventh time in the past eight years the event has been held.

The feature race at the Castlepoint Racing Club's annual beach meeting fell to Sea King, a nine-year-old Shinko King gelding who is being readied for what should be another highly profitable winter jumping season.

The former rogue, who was once banned from racing because of his bad manners, became the first horse to win the Waikato Steeples-Waikato Hurdles double last year and is a past winner of the Grand National Hurdles in Australia.

From 46 TAB starts he has scored 13 wins as well as registering six seconds and eight thirds for $444,804 in stake money. Nine of his wins have come over hurdles and one over steeples.

Myers was presented with the Cup by the Minister of Racing Nathan Guy and said he considered himself “very lucky” to have a horse of Sea King's calibre in his stables.

Previous winners for Myers in the Castlepoint Cup were Stacey Jones (2001), Gabla (2002), Pennnon (2012), The Rose (2013), Our Alchemist (2014) and Duchess of Cambridge (2015). The Rose was ridden to success by Kayla Veenendaal, who was also aboard Sea King in this year's running of the time-honoured event.

Saturday's meeting drew a large, appreciative crowd who enjoyed the summery conditions. Apart from Sea King the star of the well-organised meeting was dual winner Viceroy, who won the Fagan Suzuki Tinui Highweight and the Whakataki Hotel Whakataki Handicap for trainer Jo Rathbone. Viceroy is a six-year-old Deputy Governor gelding and he, too, looks primed for a lucrative winter campaign.

One of the easiest winners of the day was Tawera Nikau, who is trained at Tauherenikau by Aaron Bidlake, the commentator at Castlepoint. He was having his second start of the day when he scooted away with the Darling Drilling and Piling Ltd Mataikona Trial Stakes.

A Myers runner in Onefortheditch showed plenty of grit to win the Woodnet and Bakerrag Lighthouse Handicap and the same could be said for the Trina Riddell-trained Wiggle who took out the John Griffith and Co Ltd Schofield Handicap.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/wairarapa-times-age/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503414&objectid=11605240