She was voted best-dressed lady at Fontwell's ladies' evening, and carried off the £1,000 prize.

The 16-year-old from Chidham beat hundreds of others pretenders to the crown as a bumper crowd of 4,500 race-goers packed into the racecourse for the annual event.

Charlene, who has just left school and is off to Chichester College next month to study beauty, wasn't even going to enter the contest.

Fontwell's Beccy Green said: "Charlene's grandmother encouraged her to enter the competition, but after virtually being dragged to the stage, she paraded in front of our judges and she was shortlisted from more 150 entrants into the final ten.

"The final ten went back on stage and paraded again – and she was declared the winner."

Charlene won £1,000 and an afternoon at the Garden Spa.

Sussex trainer Gary Moore had another Fontwell meeting to remember as Flying Spirit did the business with son Jamie on board.

Tony McCoy – fresh from rides at Stratford – flew in by chopper to ride Donaldson to victory in the Jewson Novices' Hurdle Qualifier.

At the weekend, race-goers attentions turned to Goodwood, where Jimmy Fortune rode Raven's Pass to victory in the totesport.com Celebration Mile in the highlight of two days which featured 15 races.

There's more action at Goodwood next Tuesday – we'll have a preview and results on this website.