L'Ormarins Queens plate.... a spectacle of note.

Having just returned back to work today in Joburg, I thought it was worth mentioning that the Mrs. & I thoroughly enjoyed being at the Queens plate. It was our first time there for this race & we have been to the Met on about 3 occasions.

The Queens plate was a lot more glamorous than the Met, with a lot less people......but the whole set up was out of this world. I'm not saying this cause we had the most expensive tickets in town - cause we did not ( they were sold out ) we only decided to go at the last moment. We were in the STUD TENT.

Perhaps the minimum entry fee of R 300 puts off your bread & butter punters - but it was a pleasure not to be crammed in like sardines ( as we have experienced at the July a few years back )

I know the July & Met packs in anything from 50,000 - 70,000 heads - whereas I suppose there were no more than 20,000 at the QUEENS PLATE.

I think Joburg has a way to go to catch up to the status of the Queens plate set up - but I think it is more of a culture thing in CAPE TOWN for the young, & yuppie folk to be seen at these events. In fact i think CAPE TOWNIANS will find anyplace to get stuck into the wine & champagne - & they sure did get get stuck into the champagne in our tent at R 150 a pop.

This obviously works better when a prominent sponsor ( L'ORMARINS ) comes to the party & throws a great deal of money to the event.....but this took more than just money & a great deal of effort & planning must have gone into this event.

I'ts hard to know whether the main sponsor managed to make money out of this event - even though the tickets ranged from R 300, R 1200 & R 2500. - but they certainly got exposure & so did their brand of champagne ( sparkling wine ). cigarettes etc.

By all accounts it seems like this particular race day is growing in leaps & bounds & I for one would recommend it for all serious racing enthusiastic's for next year.

The cherry on the top would have been to see ACT OF WAR show them all a clean pair of heels.

I sat in the Peninsula room it was nothing short of fantastic,later after racing we ended up at the after party(style lounge),we partied there until about 11 30.The Ruperts really put on a great show and have no doubt that this event is growing in stature.It is for all to see that Cape racing has really turned the corner and I for one cannot wait for the Met as I have been told that they are expecting a crowd of anything from 40 to 50 thousand.

Great guys, glad you had a blast

crowd was 4000?