Monday, June 8, 2009

A Night At The Races

Horse racing in England is big. Huge. The Grand National, Ascot, Triple Crown - they are into it all over here. So I went to the local races for an evening of excitement and betting. (Apologies in advance for the photos - it was quite bright and I could never be sure if the picture turned out)



First off, there is tailgating. Pull up the car, set up at the picnic tables and voila! you are getting ready for the races.


My friend Jo and I toast with some birthday champagne to really get us in the betting mood. (It was a bit windy which is why my hair is flying all over the place)




The horses also run on grass. It is very cool - and you get to be very close. I'm pretty sure you can't get this close in the States but here, you can hear them thundering down the field and get hit with clods of dirt as they fly by. Here you can see the field coming and going.



And here is where the horses used to be and you can see the dirt still in the air. They were much faster than my camera. Jo was the skilled one for the day. She picked the winner in the first 3 races, too bad she only bet on one of them!

Anyway, these pictures don't do the evening justice but trust me that horse racing is quite popular here. I'm hoping to get tickets to Ascot so you might see horses and big funny hats here in the future. Also, pics from the Half Ironman and Italy/Switzerland still to come...

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