No, not a review of the Marx Brothers film! On Saturday I took my brother out for the day for a treat. It was his 60th birthday last week, and didn't want any fuss or parties, so I thought we should go out for the day. I'd asked him where he wanted to go and he didn't really know, but where we live is very handy for the M11, so we thought we would have a day out in Cambridge and look at the colleges there as we both like old buildings and stuff like that. Come Saturday morning though, he wasn't sure whether he wanted to go to Cambridge, so we were discussing where else was easy to get to up the M11! "Newmarket" he says....then, "not much goes on there though".
"What about the races?" I said. So we looked in the paper and discovered that there was a meeting that day, and it was the last one of the season....so off we went.
Neither of us had been horse racing before, so had no idea what to expect. However I had worked some years ago at a greyhound racing track and it wasn't dissimilar so didn't take long to get in the swing. I thought it was quite expensive to get in though at £10-£16 each, even with his newly acquired OAP concession! But the parking was free!
I really loved it! We soon got in the routine of watching the horses parade in the paddock before deciding which one we wanted to bet on...placing our bets and then going across to the track to wait for the start of the race. You could barely see the starting gate off in the distance, but there was a huge screen by the side of the track so you watch easily until they were coming up to the grandstand. You knew when they were within sight without even seeing them yourself as the cheering started on the far side of the grandstand and washed across the enclosure gradually getting louder and building to a crescendas the horses rushed towards the winning post.
I did my best Eliza Doolittle impersonation "Come on ....come on ....COME ON DOVER MOVE YOUR BLOOMIN ARSE!" If you've never seen it, watch it here...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rxtbOVWmTM
it's quite long so wizz it along to about 7minutes in if you don't want to wait!
Anyway...we were certainly on a beginners luck winning streak, we had a win or a place on all of the first five races (there were 8 altogether) and then we lost on a couple. so decided to call it a day and left after the seventh to avoid a big crush when the last race had finished. But the only money we laid out for betting was on the first race, and we played with the winnings after that. There was still a bit in the kitty when we left which I gave to my brother.
A thoroughly enjoyable day, the weather was kind to us, and unless it's against your religion or something I would recommend it for a day out, as long as you're not likely to get carried away with the betting you don't have to spend a fortune.
