Giddy Up! Our Biggest Crowd EVER attends the 2018 Melbourne Cup Luncheon!

Our biggest ever crowd joined Little Heroes Foundation at the National Wine Centre on Tuesday for a fun-filled day, celebrating the race that stops the nation!A big thank you to all 370 guests for your support!

In a slightly different format from previous years, this year’s Melbourne Cup Luncheon started outside on the terrace with a gorgeous fashion parade, hosted by Markus Hamence, with designs by Oxford Shop, Eliza French and Vacay Swimwear, modelled by Azalea Models and styled by the team at Davroe and Jerick Moral.

Inside, Hickinbotham Hall was styled thanks to Creative Concepts, Chaircovers Overall, Flower Dreaming by Lyn, SmartPosts and Olympic Party Hire. Our good friends at AV Plus were also on hand to individually string up coloured umbrellas (a topical choice of decoration in the end) from the ceiling, a mammoth task that made the whole room look spectacular – thank you team!

This year we also welcomed the lovely Anna as our photographer for the day, who captured every moment from the day (as you can see from the photo gallery below). You can check out more of her work online on her Facebook page – Captured by Anna Moraitis.

Once inside, guests enjoyed a delicious two course lunch, premium wines by Sidewood Estate. For those with a sweet tooth, we also had a lolly bar from Gather and Graze, with fresh donuts from Vili’s Bakery.

As is custom at our Melbourne Cup events, all guests received a gift bag, with Davroe Hair Wellness products, exclusive vouchers and more.

Channel 7/Today Tonight’s Rosanna Mangiarelli and FiveAA’s Leith Forrest hosted the day, kicking off the festivities with a bang! Thanks to Steve from Sidewood Estate, Leith opened a bottle of champagne using a traditional sabrage technique with a sword!

Little Heroes Ambassador and SA Racing Hall of Fame Jockey Clare Lindop attended the day (she first Melbourne Cup since retiring from the sport in May this year) to speak about her experiences riding in three Melbourne Cups, including being the first Australian woman to ever ride in the race. A big thank you to Clare for sharing a behind the scene look at the world of racing.

Throughout the day, guests were able to get involved in some all important fundraising by turning $10 into $100 in our Lucky Squares competition, or by purchasing a mystery bottle of win at our Wine Wall (for the chance to win a $200 Magnum of Sidewood 2015 Shiraz, or a $250 voucher for Maximilians in Verdun!)

As usual, we also hosted a major auction, hosted by Harris Real Estate’s Tom Hector and featuring prizes donated by Bosch, Appleseed Photography, Peregrine Travel Centre SA, Discovery Parks, Boileau, FiveAA, The Advertiser, AKA Promotions, Bizzarro, Essential Coffee, Vili’s Bakery, and The Bend Motorsport Park.

Fashion on the Field, a popular part of the day, returned with winners taking home prizes thanks to Oxford Shop, Sidewood Estate, Bundle + Twine, and Black Cherry.