Video: Ladies’ Day at the St Leger Festival

While some at Doncaster Racecourse were glued to the action on the track, many at the St Leger festival’s Ladies’ Day were eagerly picking out their favourite fascinators and waiting to see who’d be named the Best Dressed Lady in Yorkshire.

Throughout the summer, judges have been choosing the best-dressed woman racegoer at fixtures in Wetherby, Ripon, Redcar, Pontefract, Beverley, Catterick, York and Thirsk.

Then, yesterday, those winners were joined by the newly-crowned Best Dressed Lady in Doncaster to see who would be awarded the top prize.

Judge Ian Filby said members of the panel were looking for “a lovely, co-ordinated outfit from top to bottom.”

Julie Moore, from Redcar, said she was “gobsmacked” to be named Yorkshire’s best-dressed woman, pipping Doncaster’s best-dressed, Leesa Smickersgill, to the winner’s post.

The mother-of-four, who won the best-dressed prize at Thirsk racecourse last Saturday, now wins a luxury “pampering pyjama party” for six at the Best Western Premier Mount Pleasant Hotel in Doncaster.

She said: “It’s absolutely amazing. I wish my husband Daren was here to see this, but he’s working offshore. He’d be absolutely over the moon.

“It’s my mother’s 60th birthday soon, but she hasn’t been well and has had to cancel her party in October. I’m going to be passing my prize on to her.”

Mrs Moore wore a hot pink Kate Fearnley dress from the designer’s boutique in Middlesbrough, which she teamed with a pink and orange hat made by Lynne Young at Chic Hats in Redcar.

“I come to the races with my husband – he likes the races, and I like the fashion”, Mrs Moore said.

“I usually get my dress first, and then Lynne is inspired by the dress and she designs me a hat to go with it. I was second here last year, so I’m ecstatic to win this time.”

In second place was 43-year-old Mrs Smickersgill, who won the title of Doncaster’s best-dressed woman in a black and white chequered ensemble.

She took home an array of prizes including the use of a Mini Cooper convertible for a year and an overnight stay at the Crown Hotel in Bawtry.

“I work from home; myself and my partner make fascinators, and I also make dresses”, the mother-of-three said.

Racegoers who didn’t catch the eye of the judges had the consolation prize of the looming black rainclouds clearing to make way for a hot and sunny afternoon.

Women sipped champagne and Pimms on the lawn, to the strains of a brass band, while others were overcome by the excitement of their favourites romping home.

The favoured styles this year were short and strapless dresses in a variety of bold colours, although some broke the mould with stylish all-in-one jumpsuits, teamed with skyscaper heels.

Large, overstated headwear was the order of the day, with smaller fascinators being overshadowed by vast, colourful works of art.

Many had clearly put a great deal of time and effort into choosing the perfect outfit and had arranged to have hats, dresses and fascinators made to order by their favourite designer.

Mother and daughter duo Alexis and Carol Fawthrop, from Tong in Bradford, stood out from the crowd with their extravagant headgear.

Miss Fawthrop, 26, who wore a green leaf-like hat complete with butterflies and flowers, said: “We’ve been here every year for the last four years and, this year, have been to York and Thirsk as well.

“We had the hats made by Eleda, in Guiseley, and we tend to wear them three or four times a year.”

With the Ladies’ Day of Ladies’ Days now over for another year, those disappointed yesterday have until next May in Wetherby to dream up another extravagant creation, with the hope of being named the Best Dressed Lady in Yorkshire in 2012.