No stranger to winner's enclosure now jets off to New York

Winner of the best dressed lady competition in 2011, she’s now jetting off to New York after winning this year’s renewal on Ladies Day.

From nearby Belton, she was winning the style stakes as the magnificent Laurens – trained by Karl and Elaine Burke at Leyburn – was parading in the paddock before the May Hill Stakes.

After getting up on the line to win under jockey PJ McDonald, this top prospect is now a leading contender for next year’s 1000 Guineas – Flat racing’s early season Classic for fillies.

Yet, for many, Ladies Day at the St Leger meeting is the highlight of the South Yorkshire social calendar with racing celebrities, like record-breaking jump jockey Sir AP McCoy, just as interest in the fashion as the action on the track.

It’s also the one meeting where elegantly and stylishly dressed ladies carrying pints of lager do not appear to be incongruous – this is the one racing day of the year that has an etiquette of its own. Under squally showers, the one dampener was the traffic – there were lengthy hold-ups on the A1M while interminable delays near the racecourse meant those attending by foot were onto a winner before the first race.