And they're off..

One part of the culture which is more commonplace in Europe, particularly the UK and Ireland is the sport of horse racing. Occasionally the US comes together in the unity of horses through the Kentucky Derby, but here it is a lifestyle and a business. There is even a major here, Equine Business which is fairly popular and which one of my roommates studies. One day, Laoise (my Equine roommate) came into my room and asked if I wanted to go to Punchestown. As I stared at her with my usual squinted eye, raised eyebrow I wondered if she actually thought I knew what she was talking about. It turned out that Punchestown is a famous race in Ireland, fairly equivalent to the Kentucky Derby and lasts for a few days. Maynooth was participating in the Student Day in which we only had to pay 15 euro to go which included transportation, drink voucher, 5 euro bet voucher, and race book voucher.





The days leading up to the race my roommates and I planned what we were going to wear. I wanted to purchase a large hat to try and fit in, but sadly I did not have the chance to make the purchase. On the day, I threw on my flowered dress and khaki blazer and headed out the door ready for a day at the races. When we got there things were buzzing, people were everywhere and were wearing jeans and also large hats with all the frills. When we got inside we received our race books with all of the information of the different races and tried to decipher the different odds and whatever else was on each horse. Eventually the races started to begin and we worked our way to see what was going on. There were stalls of men with all of the horses names and the different odds on them. Looking at the boards, I probably looked as though I was trying to read Swedish because I had no idea what was going on. My friends and I tried to figure out the process for a solid hour it seemed. People were running up to the different men and were giving them money and saying numbers...what was going on?? Eventually we found my Equine roommate and she tried her best to explain the difficult process. After gaining much patience, I walked up to some man told him "five on no. four," gave him my money, took a ticket, and walked away not quite sure what I had just done. We walked into the bleachers and waited for the race to start..I had put my money on a horse named Denman. He wasn't the favorite to win, but he was definitely a contender whom many people thought could win, including myself.



When the gates opened and the horses started running, I was anxious. I pictured myself back in high school running track. I felt the adrenaline in my veins and I had barely known anything about this sport until a few hours before, what was going on with me? I also didn't know that the horses went around the track twice and also had to jump over fences..so needless to say when the horses rounded the corner and came in front of the bandstand with Denman in first place, I was the only one jumping up and down saying that I had won. Embarassing? Yes. Sad? Yes. The next lap was stressful and all I wanted was to make some money. However, Denman finished fourth. My excitement was toppled when I saw the green jerseyed jockey fall behind and make my five euro disappear before me. At that moment, I gave up on horse racing and decided I would stick to something that was reliable, food. After a nice chicken sandwich, I was ready to get out of the cold and to find warmth. Eventually the races ended and after a fun day of dressing up and losing money, I was exhausted and ready to sleep.