Thursday 4 June 2009

At the races

I've wanted to go to the races for years and years ... in fact, probably since I read my first Dick Francis book about 25 years ago. I finally made it yesterday!

It was a 'Summer Fun Raceday' at Ayr - £5 advance tickets for the grandstand - so even though I didn't get out of uni until almost 4pm, at £5 a ticket I didn't mind missing some of the races, and this was my last chance of going as I'll be back in Orkney by the time the next race meeting is on.

I quite enjoyed the experience - it was definitely interesting to see what went on, watch the horses parading before the start, the jockeys mounting, down to the start line, the race, then back to the winners enclosure and weighing in. The lack of atmosphere surprised me - there wasn't really any. Too small and unimportant a race meeting I guess. I can imagine that for something like the Scottish Grand National there would be a good atmosphere.

It was difficult to find anywhere to watch where you got a really good view of the races. I think most folk probably go for the atmosphere, the betting and the beer! The bars were busy and have lots of screens in them so you probably get a better view of what's happening in the race from there!

I'm glad I went anyway, something else ticked off my list of things to do someday.






No comments: