All eyes might have been on the Armidale Cup but it was Shannon Nauschutz's cobalt blue dress that wowed in the fashion stakes on the field.
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"I've actually had this dress for a couple of years," Shannon said.
"I pulled it out of the wardrobe because I thought today was going to be a single colour type of day."
Shannon was among a lineup of about 14 women and one baby handpicked from the crowd by the judge Anna Rush for Turner's Fashion on the Field at Armidale Racecourse on Sunday.
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The locally-based solicitor takes home a $500 voucher for Best Dressed Lady for her affordable floaty H&M dress with laser-cut back, matching blue fascinator from Spotlight and strappy beige heels from Armidale Spendless Shoes.
"This is my first Armidale Cup ever and I think it is safe to say after today we'll make it a regular in the calendar," Shannon said.
But it has taken about two years for the Armidale Cup to return to home turf after the track was water-logged in March and again in December before being transferred to Tamworth for the day in 2020.
Armidale Jockey Club's Jim Dedes said the Cup is back and will now be held every year in December instead of March due to competition with the country championships.
"We thought we would race in December and maybe get a bigger crowd with businesses having Christmas parties," Mr Dedes said.
"It's a bit of a learning curve for us and I think it's been quite successful."
People from Armidale, Guyra, Inverell, Tamworth, Scone, the NSW coast and elsewhere turned up in the thousands for the event.
Pepper's Ghost took home the Armidale Cup (1900m) for Scone-based trainer Brett Cavanough in the 4:55pm race, followed by last year's winner Beckford in second, and local trainer Stirling Osland's Point Counterpoint placed third.
Armidale had even more to celebrate with Osland securing two winners with former John O'Shea-trained Cyber Attack winning her Maiden Plate (1100m) and four-year-old gelding Buffet Buster securing a Benchmark 66 Handicap (1400m).
Cavanough's Pepper's Ghost and Tamworth trainer Troy O'Neile's Beckford now qualify for the $2m Big Dance being held on November 1 at Sydney's Royal Randwick.
"He could go out for a spell and then come back for a couple of the country cups in the Autumn," Mr Cavanough said of the Al Maher-sired gelding.
"It's good to win a cup anywhere and Armidale especially because we come here a bit and it's good to support the locals."
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