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- Darla’s Queen’s Plate Hat
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- The Hat close up
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- The Queen’s Representative
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- Our Men in Red
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- Ladies in black hats
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- More Hatty Ladies
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- Hats and Horses
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- More hats and horses
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- Lucky # 7
Last June 21, 2009 was the 150Th running of the Queen’s Plate horse race in Toronto. It is no Ascot or Kentucky Derby yet but it is the occasion for many people, especially women, to wear their best hat. There is also a representative of the Queen of England in attendance.(This year it was David Onley). The Queen is of course also the Queen of Canada. The monarch adds 50 guineas to the purse – now $1million dollars Canadian. Originally a guinea was 21 shillings or 5% more than a pound sterling and used in a variety of auction situations in the UK – notwithstanding decimalization in the early 1970s the tradition continues.
You can read more about the Queen’s Plate on this link. It is the oldest thoroughbred horse race in North America and run over a distance of 1 1/4 miles.
This year the race was won by Eye of the Leopard. Darla Sycamore (me the hat revivalist) was at the race. Originally I planned to do a first video production but rain had threatened so I just took a small digital camera. You can see my pictures in the gallery above. The highlight is me wearing a very fancy hat I found at the Antique Market here in Toronto. It is actually a bowler hat and someone painstakingly glued several silk flowers to the bowler. The result is wonderful although the hat is quite warm to wear on a hot steamy day. This is the price of fashion. Enjoy!
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Looks like you had a great time at the races! Your hat is pretty – I love the flowers. And I had no idea that the Queen’s Plate was the oldest race in North America (150!).
Thanks for the comment Rhonda.
Someone put a lot of work into that hat eh