KEY POINTS:
The Ladies Man was assessing the fillies go by from the Cuvee lawn. It was Melbourne Cup day at Ellerslie and there were pretty girls in clingy frocks aplenty.
Three glamour-girl journos from TVNZ's Breakfast show in plunging numbers that left little to the imagination, sauntered by. The
Ladies Man drooled like a true media chauvinist: "Ooh... I'll have a piece of that." The girls didn't hear fortunately, though I have no doubt they'd have been secretly delighted. The little va-va-voom numbers they picked out to wear that morning weren't designed to attract the bookish Mensa-types. How does Paul Henry concentrate, was all I could fathom.
Race days are renowned for the fashion, the hats and the bubbly. Occasionally, they even mention the horses. But it's really about the SEX. The little flirtatious glances, the strappy summer dresses worn in rain, hail or shine (hordes of girls froze yesterday all in a bid to expose their erogenous zones: shoulders and cleavage), the free-flowing bubbly, and the fashionably debauched behaviour.
The Melbourne Cup may have brought some punters to the track, but after a few glasses of champers, it's fair to say the shameless behaviour surfaces and the fun taps turn on.
It started not-so-innocently enough when (a sober) "Mayor" of Newmarket, Cameron Brewer, in true show pony style, paraded around the tables at a pricey ticket-only luncheon desperately trying to lobby votes for the most fashionable man category. Looking like an English toff but without the Pimms, Brewer in tails and cravat (did he think he was at Royal Ascot?) wooed the judges to win. He treated it like a campaign, but without the helicopters. Winston would have been proud. If he'd been there - he arrived later in the day just before the main race - Brewer would have had stiff competition.
If there's one thing Winston does well during an election campaign, it's look shamelessly fashionable. Lucky for Brewer he wasn't, and "His Worship" won the title hands down. Ironically, Peters' close friend Peter Vela had a connection to the win - his daughter Petrea won the female category, with no donations being made to the judging parties, I understand.
Later at the Aqualine party at the Viaduct's Euro restaurant, Green Room and Pasha Bar, Auckland's A-list partied... hard! (Here's some sneak peak piccies from yesterday's Melbourne Cup action at the Aqualine party.)
The strappy frocks on the gym-toned bodies were less cheap and clingy Lycra as at Ellerslie, and more expensive designer numbers. But money doesn't necessarily bring class, and the behaviour - after bottles and bottles of Veuve - got considerably more and more friendly.
VERY friendly if yours was one of the pert bottoms being voluntarily whipped by Rich Lister Julie Christie brandishing a crystal studded riding crop she bedazzled herself. If she wasn't a power-wielding television exec, a sexy dominatrix could easily be another vocation. Spy's column in the Herald on Sunday will show all the piccies of sexy Julie in whip-cracking action.
Also looking sexy was a very grizzly Mark Hotchin who's sporting the must-have fashion accessory for men this season. No, not Uggs - a beard. Gilda Kirkpatrick (who looked like a glamorous walking Gucci billboard) was overheard commenting to her soon-to-be Paritai Drive neighbour. "You look fabuuuulous darling," she purred to Hotchin, "Vat a good look on you."
Here's some sneak peak piccies from yesterday's Melbourne Cup action at the Aqualine party. For all the photos from Ellerslie and the complete highs and lows from the day, including the worst and best dressed check out Spy in the Herald on Sunday.
Rachel Glucina
Pictured above: Melbourne Cup at Aqualine. From left; Grant Graham, April Ieremia, Julie Christie, Steve Lockwood and Karen Turner. Photo / Norrie Montgomery.