ALL sorts of alcoholic beverages flowed at the Dederang’s Picnic Races on Saturday but one group of punters was interested in only one — mojitos.

The rum and lime concoction, with plenty of mint, was served in cocktail glasses to match the level of sophistication.

“I had lots of mint in the garden and mojitos are fun to make, so why not?”, Liz Wilkinson said.

A work colleague, Jo Houston, was also on the mojitos but that wasn’t her drink of choice when she arrived at the track.

“I had a beer for brekkie, I really did,” she said. “We’ve been here since 11am.”

At the bar, birthday girl Bronwyn Tyrell and her friends were getting a lot of attention for their outfits — the Albury girl stood out in her pink wig and costume.

“It’s my first time here and I had heard it’s always a great day out,” Miss Tyrell said.

“It’s more relaxed and you can dress like this.

“It’s also handy you can bring your own drinks.”

Miss Tyrell said there had already been some excitement and it came from on the racetrack.

“One of the jockeys came off and the horse has run away,” she said.

Dederang Race Club secretary D’Arcy Townsend was thrilled with the large crowd of about 4000, including some who had camped out.

“We’ve never had trouble with crowd behaviour in all the years of the meeting,” he said.

“It’s more of a focus on family.

“It was a very happy crowd and I think the weather helped big time.”

Mr Townsend said there was a slight hiccup when a horse bolted up the straight without its jockey. The incident delayed the start of the next race.

“The crowd got a bit of a buzz — it’s something you don’t see every day,” he said.

“Everyone had a laugh, you can’t predict what will happen at a picnic race meeting.”

An innovation this year was a big screen that showed the races.

“People loved the big screen, which was a first for the club,” Mr Townsend said. “We hope to make it an on-going feature.”

Albury musician Paul Gibbs provided entertainment.