Did you know that Queen’s Plate is Canada’s oldest thoroughbred horse race and also the longest continuously run race in North America?

This year, the event was held for 157th time, and featured several red carpets, lawn games, style contests, cocktails, delicious snacks and dozens of food trucks. There were also seven bands on three stages, including Hedley, Matthew Good and The Strumbellas.

FAJO‘s team spent the afternoon walking around the grounds, and capturing photos of the Best Dressed guests.

One of the highlights of the day was the Rethink at the Races VIP lounge, put together by the Rethink Breast Cancer team. The most packed area of their lounge was sponsored by hr2 Holt Renfrew, and had illustrators Michael Hak and Stephanie McKay doing watercolour fashion illustrations of the guests. Anyone who posted a photo with the hashtag #rethinkattheraces also had their photo printed at the photo station and given to them as a hard copy. Manicures in the lounge were offered courtesy of Her Majesty’s Pleasure, there was a shoe care/polish station, several raffles and a silent auction. To say that the guests were kept pleasantly busy would be a major understatement.

Another highlight at the event was David Dunkley’s booth. Chosen as the Official Milliner of Queen’s Plate 2016, Dunkley’s display featured dozens of handcrafted hats and fascinators. Many of the event’s attendees were also wearing his creations.

The Queen’s Plate race was held in the early evening, with Sid Dudley Digges winning the prize. The 13-race Queen’s Plate card produced a record handle of $11,839,883, eclipsing the mark of $11,064,870 set a year ago.

Take a look at the photos below to see what the event looked like and who made it into our Best Dressed photo gallery!

The event

Best Dressed photo gallery