It may have been the sprint to the finish line yesterday, but the staff at Wingatui racecourse had been preparing to host Mosgiel's biggest party for months.
From the 10,000 litres of beer and the 3600 litres of wine, to the 400m of marquee frontage and 30 portable toilets, having everything in place and ready to go at 12.50pm yesterday for the first race of Wingatui's main event of the year - Melbourne Cup Race Day - was no mean feat, the man in charge, Otago Racing chief executive Andre Klein, said.
He viewed putting the day together like a massive jigsaw puzzle, in which everything from the bottle openers to the catering and seating plans was equally important, he said.
People had come to expect a great event, and so there was a good deal of pressure to get things right for the expected crowd of about 10,000.
The administrative and organisational side of things started months earlier, but the physical signs of the big day, the marquees, started going up about a week in advance, with the aim to have as much marquee frontage as possible up by Sunday night, leaving Monday free for other preparations, he said.
A large number of people were involved in making sure everything was done before the day, and on the day.
Otago Racing Club president Dean Lawrence said that included about 60 bar staff on the day, who were required to deal with ''a huge student contingent''.
Mr Klein said the track was looked after all year round to make sure it was as safe and fair as possible, but the three fulltime track staff did bring in some casual workers to help prepare for Melbourne Cup Day to ensure everything was ''absolutely perfect'' by the Monday night before the race.
Assistant track manager Casey Tippet said his workload was extended around the race day, from looking after the track to helping get the bars and furniture ready for the event as well.
''It's been a busy enough week this week,'' he said.
He said it was important to make use of extra people while they were there, because the course needed to be completely prepared for a day that would not quieten down until after the Melbourne Cup race itself had run at 5pm.
- Nick Bosma.
