Cheryl is always on the lookout for ways to advance the cause of Ladies in racing, and she has recently become a patron of a new website http://www.ladiesoftheturf.com  whose objective is to promote "racing passion with fun and fashion". Cheryl loves to assist young people, – particularly females – as they seek to advance themselves in Racing, and she has given lots of suport to Caitrin O'Rourke who is setting up the site to build a community for the "Ladies Of The Turf".

On Friday 7th February Cheryl put on a function at Epsom Lodge to launch the website, and she invited the members of the 2 Ladies of the Turf syndicates, as well as representatives from local fashion businesses, some staff members from Racing Vic, and several racing businesswomen..

Milliner to the stars and current member of the Ladies of the Turf Syndicate, Annette Sanfillippo ://www.facebook.com/annette.sanfilippo was a fantastic MC, she had some truly gorgeous hats on display and was happy to help style our ladies with a gorgeous hat,  a bag from Karen of The Bag Lady, and clothes from Halo of Mornington https://www.facebook.com/halomornington.  Erica and Victoria from Fiona's of Mornington https://www.facebook.com/fionasofmornington also lent their support, and they will no doubt have dressed some of the beautiful entrants in the Fashions on the Field at next week's Mornington Cup.  Sharon Chapman of Whole Package Photographics http://www.wholepackage.com.au was on hand to capture the stylish atmosphere, you will see some of her work in the Ladies of the Turf album on our Photo Gallery.

Guests enjoyed a delicious High Tea with tasty delights from Sally Lukey of SweetPea catering, Mandy's ribbon sandwiches, and the lemon slice from Grazen Cafe.  This was all served on the most gorgeous china from Cheryl and Naomi's collections, with champagne and iced tea, or proper teapot tea.

 Everyone entered into the spirit of the day and wore their best racewear and hats, with Pat acting as the Fashions on the Field judge.  Pat made a careful and considered decision, awarding the prize to a guest wearing a gorgeous black and white hat, and a cream playsuit that he noted would not get the wearer into the members at Moonee Valley!Caitrin, Pat, Brooke, Cheryl and Annette

Congratulating the winner of the Fashions on the Field:                    Left  to Right: Caitrin, judge Pat, gorgeous winner Brooke, host Cheryl and MC Annette

Nothing happens without a great deal of hard work behind the scenes, and Cheryl was specially grateful for the help of her cousin Mel, sister-in-law Julie Anne, and daughter Mandy, as well as Naomi and Marianne.  Together with Cheryl, and with input from Pat, and Marilyn's husband Peter, they did everything from shopping for ingredients, completely rearranging the house furniture at the start of the day, cooking and serving food, then packing up and washing up at day's end.  This left Caitrin free to mingle with her guests and have pictures taken for the website.  The team worked so well that when Caitirin offered to help at the end of the day, everything was already done! 

Cheryl said

"I am so pleased that everyone took the time to come along especially on such a hot day, and hopefully they all had a good time.  We will  work on the new website and offer support, ideas and encouragement to Caitrin as she continues to develop it. In the future it should be a valuable source of information, perhaps even a one stop shop for all Ladies of the Turf, with the added bonus of exciting Racing news.

I am keeping my eye out for this year's Ladies of the Turf horse, and I have strict instructions from the girls in the office that it has to be a grey or a black filly!  We are all looking forward to Marleesand coming back in to work, and of course to finding the next generation Ladies horse!

How sweet to have little Maia as our Baby of the Turf, she is such a darling… and I love to start them off young in a hat!"

 

 

 

 

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