Horse Racing Australian Style

They’re off!

Well they will be if you hit play. Here are three quick races for you, see how many winners you can pick.

You may recall that we went to Eagle Farm Racecourse almost 3 months ago, only to be thwarted by the bank holiday Monday weather. Whilst we were there briefly on that day, my daughter joined the “Tiny Turfers” club, which was free, and she got a free hat.

Well, a couple weeks ago Elizabeth got a letter. She had been invited to the Family Race Day and was given a free ticket. Not only that, but they had also attached two more free tickets for accompanying adults. That’d be me and Mrs BobinOz then.

Similar events had taken place in two other households, so on Saturday we found ourselves as a group of six adults and five little girls having a day at the races for free. And we had a fun day for sure.

What is truly enjoyable about living here in Australia is how easy it is to have a great day out. I have already mentioned this in previous posts, particularly when I have gone to a theme park at the Gold Coast, like Movie World.

Whenever I went to a theme park in England, it would take an hour and a half to get there and an hour and a half to get back. And I used to live just 30 miles east of London, so it wasn’t as if I lived out in the sticks.

It was the same with horseracing. We used to have a horseracing day back in England about once a year. The nearest courses were Lingfield Park, Newmarket, Kempton and Ascot. The same story, it would take an hour and a half, but more like two hours to get there. Worse for Ascot, it could take three quarters of an hour just to go down the High Road once you had got there.

Here, within 40 minutes we had arrived, parked and were walking through the gates. The car park was a bit full so we parked in the street, about four minutes walk from the entrance and we parked all day for free. Try doing that in England.

Its amazing how much better a day out can be when you take away all the stresses normally associated with getting there, parking and getting back. If anyone ever wondered what it is like to live in space, living in Australia is it.

Did we win? Obviously I took charge of picking the horses. What could my wife or my five-year-old little girl possibly know about form? Waging an enormous $10 per race, I picked four straight losers. 40 bucks down! So I passed on the responsibility to my daughter. She picked a loser too. That’s my girl!

$50 down and two races to go. In desperation, I let my wife have a turn. She picks “Cape Breton” because she likes the name. What kind of thought process is that? It wins at 6.50 (which was 11/2 in my day).

We are now at five dollars in front. I step up to the plate again having been given a lesson in how these things work. I pick a horse in the final race because I like its name.

So all in all, we ended up the day just five dollars down on gambling. That’s teamwork.

Visa Assessment Service
{ 2 comments… add one }
  • Ben Anderson July 18, 2013, 1:23 am |

    It’s great to hear that fun weekends are easy and inexpensive. That’s a great part of the reason we’re moving to Australia. I hope my two girls will love it as much as I hope to. Great blogs by the way.

    • BobinOz July 18, 2013, 2:22 pm |

      Well, there’s plenty you can do at the weekend that is expensive, but there’s also plenty of really inexpensive and even free stuff to do that is great fun. I’m sure your two girls will love it here, I know my daughter does. Good luck!

Cancel reply

Leave a Comment

If your comment doesn’t get answered, find out why…..
FAQs and Comment Policy.