Trentham Fashion Fillies To Get Own Grooms

Trentham Fashion Fillies To Get Own Grooms and Farriers For Cup Carnival

A little hairspray to keep your hair in place, madam? Powder your nose? A little lip gloss, perhaps? A plaster for your heel blister?

Trentham Racecourse won’t just have fields of thoroughbreds thundering down the straight on the New Zealand Oaks and Cup Days of the three-day Lion Brown Wellington Cup Carnival in January.

Those two days also offer a field of fashion in which the country’s most stylish women also show their staying qualities.

For their benefit, a bevy of beauticians and hair stylists will be on hand to smooth the way for the elegant women who turn these two days into a fashion spectacular.

They will be stationed in what will become one of the most salubrious places at New Zealand’s favourite racecourse – the upgraded ladies’ powder room in the public stand.

Also making its debut at the ING (NZ) Ltd NZ Oaks Day, also known as Ladies Day, and the Lion Brown Wellington Cup Day will be the prestigious Dulux Fashion Village sited conveniently near the Drake International Fashion in the Field catwalk. The six-seater corporate tables must be booked in advance through 0800 Trentham or through Red Tickets 0800 000 575.

Dulux has become a major sponsor for the two fashion-conscious racedays and each table will be painted a unique colour from its New Zealand Colour Map paint range in which each shade takes its name from a New Zealand location.

There will also be a special prize for the best performing woman jockey over the Carnival – a silver anniversary award to acknowledge 25 years of women jockeys in New Zealand, sponsored by Wellington jeweller, Hanne Anderson.

It’s all part of the new-look, freshly marketed Trentham which has strengthened its ties with the Wellington business community through a raft of special sponsorship packages.

“The place will be looking its best for the social event of the year for Wellington,” Mr Dixon said.

“The ING (NZ) Ltd NZ Oaks Day and Lion Brown Wellington Cup days have a huge fashion following, swelling the crowd to more than 10,000 on the first Saturday and up to 30,000 on the following Saturday, Cup Day.

“The races themselves are, of course, the main event and I am pleased to say that we have two Group One races and a Group Two on Oaks Day and two Group One and a Group Three on Wellington Cup Day.

“Several celebrities will attend including Prime Minister Helen Clark.”

The second day of the carnival, Anniversary Day on Monday January 19, will also have a special theme – the commemoration of the 90th year since New Zealand soldiers marched down the straight at Trentham on their way to Gallipoli. Also known as the RSA Family Day, this meeting will offer free course entry to all members of the Returned Services Association and their families.

The Upper Hutt Cosmopolitan brass band will swell the day with music and the latest Air Force acquisition, the Boeing 757 jet transporter, will perform a slow flypast. A bugler will sound the Last Post as a commemoration wreath is laid in the birdcage by Deputy Prime Minister Michael Cullen, RSA National President, David Cox and WRC President, Ron Dixon just prior to the RSA We Shall Remember Them 1200. A display of vintage Army vehicles will also feature.

On all three days of the Carnival, Wellington Combined Taxis will provide a fixed-fare taxi service to race patrons. Charges will be $60 for a car of four people or $70 for a van of eight leaving from Lambton Quay to Trentham or vice versa.

Eight top races are drawcards to the Lion Brown Wellington Cup Carnival.

January 17: ING Life New Zealand Oaks worth $300,000 in prize money for three-year-old fillies. ING Telegraph Handicap, $ 100,000, Open race. Ford Wakefield Challenge Stakes, $100,000, two-year-olds.

January 19: Trentham Stakes, $50,000, Weight For Age. Anniversary Handicap, $30,000, Open.

January 24: Lion Brown Wellington Cup, $250,000, Open. Holden Thorndon Mile, $130,000, Open. Montjeu Wellington Stakes, $45,000, three-year-olds.

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