First past the post

Woke up nice and early this morning and set off to collect Nedra and Seamus to go the races at the Madrid Zarzuela Racetrack which has reopened this season after 9 years of closure.

My only knowledge of horseracing comes from a board game someone bought me when I was younger called First Past the Post where players had to move their horses around the track and try to be the first to cross the finish line. My dad always used to et me choose a horse on the Grand National too, if he was placing a bet but I only choose the horse by the pretty colours of the jockey's outfit!

Today's betting went more or less along the same lines and I didn't do too badly, I won bets on four out of six races so in the end I only came away 5 euros worse off! Nedra and I both had beginners luck on the first race picking the winner and the 2nd placed horse but it turned out that they were the favourites so we didn't win much. Then the horse I picked because it had the same name as a place in Lord of the Rings also paid dividends! On the last race I picked 2 of the favourites and a horse that wasn't expected to do well but had a cool name - Crocodile Star. Another good choice since the 2 euros I bet on him turned into 10 euros 80! You don't know what you are going to win until the end of the race so it's quite exciting handing your ticket in, the Spanish don't seem to have the concept of 'odds'.

We had a great day, lunch, sunshine and ice-cream. I can't wait to go again, maybe next time we can talk more people into sharing in the fun!