DERBY DAY IN SYDNEY.

Shannon News, 21 October 1921, Page 4

DERBY DAY IN SYDNEY.

Derby Day is always a great event in Sydney’s racing calendar,, but never has the Randwick course held such a crowd as that which saw the favourite beaten in the classic race last week. There were over 701000 people present, according to official estimates. While the paddock was crowded; and the, usual holiday throng congregated on' the flat, the; Legefr enclosure was black with people from fence to stand, and when the races were being run the stands in botli enclosures were filled to the last square foot of standing room. ’ ; , fit was the opening of the Australian' Jockey Club’s spring carnival, and there was a cool breeze to remind people that it was not yet summer. Cirrus cloud formations streaked the sky, with occasional low-lying rain clouds, and* the uncertainty of the weather was doubtless responsible for the bright summer f rocking that one generally sees on Derby day being less fin evidence than usual. None the less there were touches of bright colour ini the crowd on the lawn, . including some vivid red hats, and a lurid and inartistic shade -of blue that, is supposed to be amongst the latest fashions. But the Australian women, like the Australian men, place sport first when they go to Randwick. Fashion, or appearances, are not allowed to interfere with comfort. Where else. In the world, for instance, would one see ,on the lawn near the grandstand at a fashionable meeting in a capital city a. girl, tormented py a pair of new shoes, discard her footwear, while she rested on the turf between the races as one of the fair s?x did at Randwick on Saturday? In another part (of the lawn three young women in the early tWentips knelt on a large raincoat, and with mirrors, lipsticks and powder puffs calmly “made-up,” and completed their task without attracting special attention, though a couple of men whose appearance suggested the country regarded the proceedings with apparent, amazement. Little incidents like this are easily understandable if the crush before the mirror 1 In the ladies’ room was to be measured by the crush at the totalisafor or in the refreshment rooms.