A day at the races—In the thick of things

Saturday, November 2, was my first time at the race course, when I attended the Peermont Emperors Palace Charity Mile, at the Turffontein Race Course.

It never crossed my wildest thoughts that I would, one day, find my adrenalin being triggered by some horses racing against each other, but, on Saturday, history was made.

For a few minutes, I found my body moving as if I was a jockey on one of the horses, during one of the races.

Thanks to Peermont, I was part of the media invited to a day at the races.

I came face to face with fast horses, experienced a little betting and the lifestyle and competition that remain cultural in parts of the country and attract huge money makers in this worldwide sport.

From what I have come to know and understand, horses were never for folks like me.

I always reduced racing to being a thing for the older generation, who always rush to the back pages of The Citizen newspaper, every time they grab one.

But walking around there and listening to people talk about their winnings and others plotting their next bets, I started to envy them.

Everything about it began to feel familiar and comfortable and I started paging through the paper as well, attempting to learn how to play the game and read the racing form.

I learned about the strengths and weaknesses of each and every horse.

I tried to figure out if there is logic to the sport, but at the end of it all, many factors of the game had me thinking that I only needed to pray for some luck to cash in.

The odds for each race change by the minute anyway, so one has to combine knowledge of the horse, the jockey, and the trainer, and that’s too much of a job.

My take is that I need pure luck to win, just like when playing the Lotto.

Analysing statistics and doing background checks on horses won’t necessarily make me a winner.

Anyway, it was a lively interaction, a thrilling occasion and I found myself a new means of entertainment.

I will be visiting the race course in the near future; maybe bet on a horse or two, who knows?

Maybe I can take home couple of Benjamin’s.

I may not have understood how things work out there, but I did enjoy the atmosphere.

To top it all, the VIP section was full of good food — not forgetting the fact that I was in the midst fashionably clad celebrities, and I mean the female ones.

Who could say no to rubbing shoulders with the likes of Armor Vittone, Gerry Elsdon, Chané de Kock, Fiona Nay, Kerry McGregor and Amanda du Pont?

I also appreciated the beauty of the race course as a whole, and its manicured green lawns.

Stand-up comedian Jason Goliath completed my day.

I was taking a photograph of him when he told me that my camera lens was “too small” and then, when I produced the longer one, he said: “That one must be Nigerian”.

Whatever he meant, it sent a lot of people into uncontrollable laughter.