"Dressing up" at Sha Tin Racecourse usually means giving your best pair of flip-flops a wash, putting on a semi-ironed shirt and dusting off your precious Silent Witness cap - the one you trampled five people for in 2005. But yesterday's rare adventure into glitz and glamour adds a much-needed sense of style and point of difference to the relentless racing calendar.
Sa Sa Ladies' Purse Day is an incredible success, the Ladies' Purse is one of Hong Kong's oldest races, but the involvement of Sa Sa owner Simon Kwok Siu-ming, a prolific owner of horses, has transformed it over the past five years into a one of the highlights of the season.
There's no scientific study to say whether a proliferation of pretty girls in fancy hats make punters punt more, but a bumper crowd of more than 63,000 produced an electricity in the air, and bumper turnover of nearly $1.2 billion kept the bean counters busy.
Choosing suitable hats and frocks for a day at the races is clearly still an educational experience for many of the locals. Fashions in the field "Sha Tin style", much like the horrid Gangnam Style, seems to come about by walking into the nearest boutique brand store blindfolded and armed with the hubby's platinum credit card.
One of the highlights on course was ground-breaking technology that allowed patrons to see, on a large television monitor, what they would look like if they were wearing a hat. Of course, there were the same range of hats and fascinators nearby that were free to try on, but small steps first. Putting a hat on can be an intimidating experience.
Clearly similar technology - i.e. a mirror - was needed for some others before they left home.