A night at the races

Checking out the parade ring

With Big Mike due to leave Singapore for good at the end of this month, he is currently working through a list of things that he needs to get ticked off before he returns to either the cold climes of London or the even worse heat of Dubai (apparently it’s all still tbc).

Part of this slow farewell to Singapore is seeing him working through all the things that he loves to do, and all the things that he has not yet done but needs to before he goes. As such, on Friday he finally took advantage of one of his friends jobs (he knows the chat that runs the stables at the race track), and so Mike, Nick and I joined his friend Tracy for a night of betting on the geegees in the owners enclosure of the Singapore turf club.

At the races

Having been to the races quite a bit back in the UK, I was expecting a night of excess, fancy dresses and very elegant people. I hadn’t’ really considered the gambling problem that locals have in Singapore, and so I wasn’t entirely ready for the reality of the racetrack.

            It was a lot more like going to the dogs in Wimbledon than going to the races in the UK. You still at long tables by huge glass windows opening out onto the track, and you just watch the racing out the windows and races from other meetings on the TV whilst having a few drinks and a spot of dinner (the local equivalent of greasy spoon burger and chips).  

            It was an entirely no-frills evening, but it was great fun! It was amazing to go and see what the racing is like out here, even if it’s not necessarily something that I would rush back to in the near the future, but I managed a very low key evening with minimal bad behaviour. All in all, it was a lovely way to spend a very relaced Friday night.