Ladies’ Day aims to keep up appearances

IT USED to attract the cream of the fashion crop, but it seems standards at the Grand National have dropped, with fashion faux pas gaining more attention than the winning riders.
An empty bottle behind the shoes of a racegoer during Ladies Day at Aintree Racecourse, as bosses at the Grand National will aim to cover up the modesty of Liverpool ladies with a ban on unflattering photographs.
Photo: David Davies/PA WireAn empty bottle behind the shoes of a racegoer during Ladies Day at Aintree Racecourse, as bosses at the Grand National will aim to cover up the modesty of Liverpool ladies with a ban on unflattering photographs.
Photo: David Davies/PA Wire
An empty bottle behind the shoes of a racegoer during Ladies Day at Aintree Racecourse, as bosses at the Grand National will aim to cover up the modesty of Liverpool ladies with a ban on unflattering photographs. Photo: David Davies/PA Wire

But bosses at the race will do their bit to protect the modesty of ladies attending the event - with a ban on unflattering photographs.

Ladies’ Day has become a firm fixture on the North West social calendar, frequented by celebrity WAGs such as Colleen Rooney.

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But the parade of ostentatious hats, risque dresses and impressive tans worn by sometimes well-refreshed ladies has led to accusations of southern media using the event to sneer at northern ladies by catching them in unflattering poses.

Racegoers during Ladies Day at Aintree Racecourse. 
Photo: Peter Byrne/PA WireRacegoers during Ladies Day at Aintree Racecourse. 
Photo: Peter Byrne/PA Wire
Racegoers during Ladies Day at Aintree Racecourse. Photo: Peter Byrne/PA Wire

And this year Aintree intends to act, with John Baker, managing director of the racecourse, warning it is time to stop what it sees as unfair coverage which does not represent its customers or the city of Liverpool.

Mr Baker said: “We want to overwhelm the negativity, to push the positivity to the front.

“Our event is full of character, it’s fun, and that’s generated by the personality of the Liverpool people.

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“We have to absolutely protect that because it’s at the core of what we are, and we have a responsibility to our customers to project the correct image,” he told the Liverpool Echo.

“We have talked about trying to monitor those photographers, so if we see any element clearly looking for a negative shot and we can identify that, we will take their accreditation off them and we’ll kick them off the site.

“That’s not easily manageable, but that’s what we’ll endeavour to do.”

Tens of thousands of racegoers attend the Grand National each year, and it generated television viewing figures in the hundreds of millions from across the globe.

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But recently, Ladies Day’s has reportedly failed to sell out with suggestions regular race-goers have been put off by media coverage of some women taking advantage of the “lax” dress code, banned at other racecourses.

Aintree, which runs a style contest for the best-dressed ladies on the day, will also now issue their own images on their website, Facebook and Twitter to counter other outlets who may want to put a “negative slant” on the meeting.