Fascinators, colourful suits, and high heels were out in force in Christchurch on Wednesday as about 13,000 people headed to Addington raceway for harness racing's biggest day, the IRT New Zealand Trotting Cup Day.
The day is also the TAB's biggest betting day within New Zealand, and by late afternoon the meeting had a turnover of $3.9 million, up on last year's turnover by around 4 percent.
While most of the crowd had been well-behaved, at the end of the event police arrested one person for disorderly behaviour and issued warnings to six others. The 31-year man police detained was also charged with resisting arrest.
With temperatures up to 25 degrees in Christchurch and a warm nor-west wind, one of the biggest challenges was keeping cool.Especially for punters like Caleb Adam, Jody Mills and Brad Wilson, who were wearing specially imported suits.
They are regulars at the event and say they have a simple goal for their clothes choices - standing out.
Caleb Adam sported a colourful paint-splatter suit, Brad Wilson was in a green suit with a gambling theme, and Jody Mills went for his childhood favourite - SpongeBob SquarePants.
It was also a day for punters to bring out their finest frock and fascinator. Steph McGreavy and Kit Winter-Davies, from Timaru, were adorned with handmade felt fascinators made by Steph.
She said she took up the hobby during lockdown, and even creating the horses was not as tricky as it looked. She carefully chose the designs to match her and Winter-Davies' dresses for the day.
Addington Raceway chief executive Brian Thompson said they had already bought 10,000 bottles of water to hand out in a bid to help people stay hydrated, but when they saw the forecasted hot weather, they upped that to 15,000.
One person who had dressed for the weather was Stewart Curtis, who went with the brave choice of a shirtless suit.
He said the shirtless look had always been his plan, and was delighted the weather was playing ball.
For horse trainer Graham Court, who was in town to race his horse Straight Flush, the day was all about the racing.
He said the Cup Day was the biggest day of the year for people in his industry.
"It's huge. It is the day in harness racing."
By late afternoon, the police said the crowd had been relatively well-behaved, but were warning people to take care when they left the site after the final race.
And the final result - Australian raider Swayzee, driven by Cam Hart, won the New Zealand Trotting Cup.
Swayzee beat the New Zealand favourite Akuta driven by Mark Purdon by three lengths with Beach Ball third.
RNZ
