MUSSELBURGH Racecourse celebrated a modern-day record 9,000 attendance at its annual Stobo Castle Ladies Day meeting on Saturday as thousands of bottles of bubbly were popped.

And there were more reasons to celebrate as bookmakers William Hill renewed their sponsorship of the course’s biggest prize race – the Scottish Sprint Cup – for the next three years.

The £100,000 flat race is the fastest and richest in Scotland and is one of the highlights of Ladies Day.

Bill Farnsworth, racecourse general manager, said: “The Scottish Sprint Cup is Musselburgh’s flagship race and the continued support of William Hill means a huge amount to us.

“Scottish Racing continues to make strong progress and we are keenly looking forward to developing this brilliant race day with William Hill and Stobo Castle so that it remains a sell-out capacity event for many years to come.” Radio Forth presenter Grant Stott was master of ceremonies at the Stage Bar Marquee on Saturday as the finals of the Fashion in the Field competitions reached an exciting climax.

Ashley Stewart from Edinburgh was crowned the 2014 Debenhams Queen of Style and collected a £3,000 cash prize, while, proving she was heads above thousands of others, Dot Anderson won the Most Stylish Hat competition.

Lloyd Saltman, a professional golfer at Archerfield, showed he was as comfortable on the catwalk as the fairway when he was selected as the best dressed man at Ladies Day, picking up the King of Style prize.

The East Lothian racecourse estimated that racegoers spent more than £800,000 on their outfits for the biggest fashion day in Scottish sport – taking into account the cost of dresses, hats, fascinators, handbags, shoes, accessories and flowers.

Sarah Montgomery, Musselburgh Racecourse commercial manager, said: “Each year we say Ladies Day can’t get any better but it does and its popularity seems to keep growing. “The effort and thought that went in to the outfits worn by race-goers was truly outstanding and Stobo Castle Ladies Day is established as the place to see and be seen during the summer sporting season.” Tickets for 2015 Ladies Day went on sale on Monday.