For all the fashion trends that graced Launceston Cup on Wednesday, few were as universally popular as watermelons.
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A 30-degree summer's day proved the perfect backdrop for Launceston's Chris Allison and Hobart brothers Danny and Jim Forey to don matching melon button-ups that stood out like beacons beneath the Mowbray Racecourse grandstand.
"We grew up together as friends - we've known each other for years," Mr Allison said.
"Each year we come with different shirts on - the loudest we can find, we'll wear it for the race.
"These ones are better than last year's."
Last year's Launceston Cup shirts were yellow flowery numbers, and they wore matching multicoloured get-ups in Melbourne.
"We get a lot of people commenting on it, even at the Melbourne Cup people would come up and say 'we love your shirts'," he said.
Fan favourite Aurora's Symphony couldn't get over the line in the main event despite strong backing, but there were still some success stories from punters.
Steve Walters - also known as Bookie Steve - said he had paid out two big sums midway through the day.
"We've had a couple of big winners, we've paid out $4000 to one lucky punter - it's been a good day," he said.
Former AFL star Matthew Richardson was one of many recognisable faces in the crowd, taking the chance to talk up Tasmania's AFL team ahead of its launch next month.
"I've been a couple of times - I came here years ago with friends," he said.
"I'm down here today with the AFL and a lot of the politicians are here, Jeremy [Rockliff] was around last night and the opposition leader, just talking about what the AFL team can bring to Tasmania.
"Everyone's really positive and you can tell everyone down here's excited about having an AFL team."
Tasmanian Turf Club's Brent Crawford said this year's cup had drawn 10,000 people, doubling the 5000 that attended last year's race.
"It was a fantastic day - the best behaved crowd we've ever had," Mr Crawford said.
"For us to hit 10,000 is massive - we had some quiet years during COVID.
"I want to thank the crowd for being so hospitable."