Adventures in Guangzhou!

Right near CUHK (the Chinese University of Hong Kong) is the town of Sha Tin up in the New Territories. Amongst the mountains, skyscrapers, temples, and shopping centers is a beautiful horse-racing track. On certain Sundays throughout the year, there are big races involving horses from all around Asia. Having never been to a horse race, I wasn't expecting much. I'd seen highlights on TV and it looked like a whole big to-do for only about a minute of action. What was the point?

I have to say, immediately upon walking out to the grandstand, I was pleasantly surprised. It was exciting! We caught a race almost right away and it was pretty incredible to see the horses in motion. Seeing it on TV definitely does not do it justice. At all. The horses are magnificent. There's an unbelievable amount of power and grace in the animals and when they come around for the homestretch, everyone who's in the lower levels gets on their feet.

Sitting on the commuter train going to the track, I tried to educate myself a bit by reading the special racing section from the South China Morning Post. I learned words like "parlay," "impost," "paddock," and "quinella." I read a tiny bit about all eleven races of the afternoon and even decided to go nuts and place a couple of minimum bets. Despite being a complete greenhorn in this arena, I was convinced that this was a perfect example of when in Rome...

After the first race we saw, there was about thirty five minutes of downtime to allow people to bet and to get the horses into place. I perused the listings and decided that "Speeding Molly" was my horse. Though not the overall favorite, she was picked by one of the experts to have a breakout race. Race time came along and I was feeling good, feeling confident. That feeling lasted all of, oh say, thirty seconds. It turns out Speeding Molly was not on the same page as me and finished second to last. Upon crossing the finish line I took my betting ticket, ripped it in two, and threw it up in the air in disgust. I felt like like this was the appropriate action.

The thing was, I was hooked. I've never been into gambling before, but I could see how this type of wagering got addictive and quick. I wanted my horse to win so badly! I had ten Hong Kong dollars invested in that animal! I would not be embarrassed by one bad outing! I was going back to the betting office!

My next pick, Danzig Mountain, was also a major disappointment. I hadn't read the listings closely and after the fact I realized that the horse was running with a lame leg. I appreciate the guts and the dedication but seriously? A lame leg? Of course he was an also ran. I decided to sit out the betting for a while and get some food. Inside there was a wealth of different food options, all of which looked great, smelled tasty, and were completely overpriced. A bunch of us opted for hot dogs to remain mobile and we were pleasantly surprised. The salsa hot dog was top notch! It even made me forget the poor performances of my two horses.

For the next handful of races we walked as close to the track as possible by the finish line. In the words of one of my companions, we were looking to feel the thunder of the hooves. It was pretty amazing. After the races, the top three finishers exit the track right in front of the stands in order to allow the spectators a congratulatory view on the way to the winner's circle. Just in case you were curious, it's true--jockeys are really small people.

Since it was starting to rain a bit and people had to catch trains home, we decided to stay for one final race. It turns out the 8th race of the day was the big money race with all of the biggest names and the most money. I had to place one more bet. I looked through the listings with a handful of others and decided that Crown's Master was my horse. Why? Well, the logic went like this- it wasn't the top rated horse but the top rated horses had been losing all day; rather, it was number four and that seemed like a respectable place to start the race.

We all gathered at the railing for the start of the race and once again you could feel the excitement in the air. As we waited I kept glancing at the betting board noting how much the odds changed right before the race--my horse fluctuated from 8.3 all the way to 9.4 before settling at 8.7, all in the space of about two minutes. Anyhow, the betting closes and the horses were off!

We were all screaming and cheering but my friend Andrew and I got into sportscaster play-by-play mode with our shouts, e.g. "Andthey'reoffandoutofthegatewithTattersallsoutintheleadbutCrown'sMasterclosebehind..." We were screaming a mile a minute and as they came into the far turn, my horse was in the lead! I started barking even louder and everyone else followed suit as they came into the home stretch. The horses were bunch in a pack up front so I started looking up at the massive TV screen to see which horse was in the lead. Right at the end I saw on the screen that Crown's Master, number four, was passed by number two and I was crestfallen. I was about to tear up my ticket when Kelly starts shouting even louder, "He did it!"

It turns out I looked away prematurely because I thought the race was over but Crown's Master burst out in front right at the line to take the win. As soon as I realized it, I let out an incredible whoop of jubilation and started dancing around in seemingly drunken acclamation. It was glorious. I'm guessing the Hong Kongers around me either thought I was nuts or thought I was a jerk but I couldn't have cared less. I immediately went over to the window and collected my winnings, asking in a hoarse voice to collect.

Walking out towards the exit with my money in hand, I was on cloud nine. I decided that I would never ever place another bet on horse racing because it could never compare to this experience. I was done. I had been to the promise land and tasted the fruits of victory but I knew wouldn't happen again; not like that, anyway. So there you have it. Just another day at the races...