BEST dressed competitions at horse shows and race meetings are now such lucrative events that organisers have to be on their guard against an entirely new horsey type - the professional wannabe best dresser.
Apparently, it's no longer just a matter of putting on your best frock and rustling up a wedding hat anymore ... this is serious stuff, with some women singlemindedly travelling from event to event in various shades of pastel, all vying for the top prize, which can run to thousands of pounds.
The organisers of the Jameson/ Kilkenny Shop Best Dressed Competition at Fairyhouse on Easter Monday were so keen to eliminate the professionals that they hit on a clever plan involving radio presenter Des Cahill doing a Cilla by fixing up a blind date for five stylish females and five equally fashionable men.
The prize of £1,000, plus some very nice cut glass, went to the best dressed couple, thus putting the kibosh on any well practised individual hijacking the event.
The winners were Liz Maher from Carlow, who looked stunning in a white trouser suit by Irish design house Regine, and her blind date, Tim McCarthy of McCarthy Oil in Co Louth. The extremely glamorous Liz works as a cattle procurer (she buys cows) for Larry Goodman.
The blind date part of the competition didn't involve being sent off to some exotic location with a camera crew, as it does on the TV programme. Instead the five couples got to spend an hour together, presumably while their real partners lurked in the background keeping an eye on them.
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