Happy Blue Monday at the Races - LittleWanderingWren

Melbourne Cup Carnival Preview Day

Saturday 5 October 2013

They don’t call Melbourne the sporting capital of Australia for nothing.

We move from the footy season into the racing season, with barely time to draw breath.

Certainly you need to be keeping an eye on forthcoming events, otherwise you will find yourself like me, caught short. You see two weeks ago beanies, scarves and a meat pie were the order of the day…

Now we’re into heels, floaty dresses, with something other than a beanie on your head, whilst we enjoy canapés and champagne!

The orange hat below is mine from ten years ago, to the left and the right were what the girls are actually wearing these days. So to say my hat is a tad over-the-top is a fair summary of the predicament I found myself in Saturday morning…

Added to the pressure is the fact that the invitation comes with the compliments of the Chairman of the Victorian Racing Club (VRC) to attend lunch and afternoon tea in the Members, Committee room in honour of gaining full membership into the VRC.

Now there is something you should know about Melbourne, membership of the VRC and the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) make certain social events a lot easier. Neither establishments can you walk straight into, indeed with the MCG people often put their kids names down at birth.

Thank you to those of you who answered my call

Hat – hot or not?

There was encouragement to

Wear the hat,

but I bottled, and decided to go for my other hat also from a long time ago, my black hat.

Wrong decision

as is it turned out, well probably slightly better than

No hat,

in the Committee Room but I got the impression I had the look of someone who either Couldn’t be bothered with hair – true

Or because it had a veil

Couldn’t be faffed with make-up – not so true

Or who was off to an upmarket funeral – that’s just rude, it’s not that old!

I loved this hat,

in it’s day it was great!

Anyway apart from my Fashion On The Field fiasco, we had a lovely day. The champagne flowed freely, we had a lovely lunch and afternoon tea and also got to take a sneak peak at some of the best horses around.

We went to check out the horse stalls and they were posh. Just look at those burgundy fluffy towels in each stalls. Each horse had a digital name plate, and you could almost eat off the floor, it was so clean. Well ok, maybe more if you are a horse or bird, but you get my drift? Here these horses are groomed and pampered to perfection.

This horse below was caught chillin’ before the big race & has obviously nodded off…

But let me introduce you to one of the stars of the track at the moment. Here is a sneak peak at one of the hot favourites for the Melbourne Cup, called Puissance De Lune.

Puissance de Lune

Melbourne Cup is the first weekend in November, we even get a days holiday to watch the race.

The Melbourne Cup Carnival covers several days racing. Saturday is Derby Day, Tuesday is Melbourne Cup, Thursday is Oaks Ladies day and Saturday is Emirates Family day.

We watched from the back of the stands as Owners cheered when their horses came in a winner
We are hoping to be back racing with our horse next weekend – time to go shopping to find some more appropriate headwear!
Thank you for stopping by!