My First Time At The Horse Race Track

This is a guest post from one of our readers who sent it via e-mail

Last week my girl friend talked me into going out the local race track to watch the horses run. She was amazed that I had never in my whole life ever been to a real race track. I did not really know what to expect because my only racetrack experience had come from movies and TV. So, maybe I was looking for something like the Marx Brothers in “A Day at the Races”, I wasn’t sure.

My first impression was one of surprise when we arrived to find everything so modern, efficient and clean. The track was beautiful. The landscaping alone was worth the trip. To top that off, everyone was so very well dressed. Decked out to the nines, as the saying goes. I had never thought of the racetrack as a fashion show before but it certainly was on that afternoon. Lots of pretty girls too. I was fascinated just walking around watching the characters….. and then we saw the horses.
My girl friend had acquired paddock passes for us so that we were able to go back to the paddock area as see the magnificent horses as they were being prepared for the upcoming race. Now, I have seen horses all my life, but these animals were far and above anything that I had ever seen in parades and rodeos. They were beautiful, sleek, powerful and so much more. My heart beat rose and I knew that this afternoon was one that I would long remember.

On the way to the grandstand we picked up a copy of the Daily Racing Form which bettors have been using since 1894 to access reliable information about past performances of race horses. That is over 100 years. Just looking around, we could see that the track and the people were steeped in tradition.

So, over a cold Mint Julep, we perused the racing form and made our choices for the first race. After you pick your horse you then have to decide whether to bet him to win, place or show. In order to win your wager on a horse to win, your horse must come in first. If you bet him to place he must come in first or second and if you bet him to show he must come in first, second or third. Minimum wager is $2. Next we strolled over to the mutual window, placed our bets and joined the crowd to watch the race.