There's nothing flash about the racecourse, but it was pretty good for somewhere that has races once a year. And the atmosphere is terrific, with everyone out to enjoy themselves.
The course has a very "personal" feel about it compared to other courses. There was little separation between the people and the horses. In fact the horses were unloaded in the carpark, in between parked cars. You got to stand within spitting distance of the finish line; so much so that I had to change to my 18-55mm camera lens because I was so close.
Our horse, Diamond Jay was racing in the last race.
In the fourth race, one of the jockeys lost his saddle near the finishing line. Here is a quick shot I was able to get off as he went by. You can see the jockey trying to stay on-board whilst his saddle was down past his left leg.
We were sitting next to another jockey's wife, and she was really upset that this happened, because it meant that someone (either the trainer or the strapper) hadn't done their job and the jockey could have been badly hurt.
The fourth race was actually declared a non-race because the starting gates had a problem. After about an hour of discussion between the jockeys and the raceclub it was decided to abandon the rest of the races on safety grounds. I wondered why they didn't revert to a standing-start so the races could continue.
So races 4 to 8 were cancelled and we got to go home without a trophy or prizemoney.
It was probably going to be Diamond Jay's last race for the season before a rest, so she might not run again now for several months. We'll just have to wait and see.
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