A Day at the Races

A couple of weeks ago, Karl and I spent a day at the races!

He got some tickets from a guy at work and so, on 20 October, we went to the town of Iffezheim near Baden-Baden to the horse race track. It was so much fun!!!

There were races all day...one about every 40 minutes. We figured out pretty fast how it all worked. After a race, the winners were walked through the crowd to the winners circle where they were cooled down and photos were taken and jockeys were interviewed. Then the crowd migrated to the lead ring (at least that's what it translates to from German) where the horses for the next race were walked so everyone could pick their favorites for the next race. Ten minutes before the race a bell rang and we all migrated back to the track.

We never made any bets, but we would pick our favorite for the race by picking our favorite horse name! Some of our favorites were Poseidon Adventure, Art Attack, Stay Another Day, Forces Sweetheart, World's Mission, Zinderella, and Action Impact.

Karl and I never figured out where our seats were. Mostly because we loved standing right on the track rail! Most of the races started on the other end of the track...but when the horses came speeding past us towards the finish line...what a rush!!




These horses were so powerful! They were so sleek and athletic looking and so excited to race! Before the race, when the jockeys rode them out onto the track toward the starting gates, you could see in their steps how excited they were to start the race. Sometimes one would start a mad dash to the starting gate and all the other horses got excited and started chasing after him. (It reminded Karl of a big excited dog!)




I've always had a thing for horses. I'm still smitten!

See all of our photos here!