Race Day in the Alice

Saturday 14th January and its race day in Alice Springs. Yeah!!! I had plans to meet up with Ange and Kate there, have a couple of drinks and enjoy my last Saturday in Alice Springs. And I did. I was very excited, i love going to the races. I should have guessed what it was going to be like when i read it in the local newspaper that there was only 5 races and only 6 horses in each race except for the last race which had 8 horses running in it. But i was to excited and never gave it another thought. Mike dropped me off, right at the gate (another clue). I found Ange and we went and got a xxxxgold (beer) and sat down at a table with an umbrella so we weren't right in the sun. They were about to start so i shot up and put a bet on. Yippy i got 3rd, raced up to get my money, 'Sorry we are only paying out for 1st and 2nd'. Shit i thought. So went and sat back down and had another beer. It was then that i looked around a bit. Now i'm not lying when i say i counted 40 cars in the car park and only about 35 people. It made me laugh when Ange said 'well they got a few people here today'. At least you didnt have to crowd at the front fence to get a glimpse of the horses galloping by. Quite a bit different to the 1000's we get at our race days. And thats when i noticed it. The horses dont run on grass, the run on dirt covered in oil. Yep, that's right, dirt covered in a layer of oil. I wish i had of had a camera there. We had a fantastic day out. I won a little and then as usual lost it on the last race. But it was great. An absolutely georgous day in the sun at the races, it's very hard to beat it. Nana would have loved it!!!