anyone here from Ireland?

[andicap]

Please e-mail or PM me as we are considering a visit there this year and looking for information on racetracks and other good places to visit not only in Dublin but elsewhere.

[Dick Schmidt]

Andy,


You'll love Irish racing. Like stepping into a time warp and going back a century or so. The tracks I visited were very informal affairs, being used to graze sheep most of the time, then holding a 2 or 3 day meet once or twice a year. When I was there, I bought everything on offer just to see what I could make of it. Very little as it turned out. Most were small pamphlets with opinions from some authority or another. Be sure to visit the bookies enclosure, it's worth doing even if you can't figure out a bet. They offer some unusual bets as well. I found one book offering even money on the favorite while another was offering 6/5 that a horse other than the favorite would win. Hello! I made both bets and no one so much as blinked. The favorite was upset and I collected a small amount. Still have the punts as a souvenir of a bet I couldn't lose.

The thing to do when you get there is buy a racing newspaper (they are everywhere) and see what course is running that week. Don't worry too much about where it is, as you can drive from anywhere in Ireland to anywhere else and back again in a day or less.

Another tip given me by a bus driver in Belfast, where things can get just a bit tense once in a while. You have a "get out of jail" card built in. Just start talking in an American accent and you're golden. EVERYONE in Ireland has relatives in America and they all seem to love Americans. You've just to open your mouth to make friends, who will all ask you if you know their uncle back in the U.S. no matter where you are from. They have no concept of the size of America and assume everyone knows everyone else, but are willing to welcome you none the less. In Ireland, the local Pub is used like we use our living rooms: an extension of the home that just happens to serve beer. We once stayed in a tiny village that consisted of 9 houses. Two of them were converted into pubs. I don't drink much, but the food was good and the music was great. Enjoy the trip and make many new friends.

Dick

"No matter where you go, there you are." - Buckaroo Banzai

[RobinFromIreland]

What would you like to know?

[46zilzal]

I understand that at the Curragh, the undulating course is such that if you are STANDING in the grandstand, the horses actually disappear from view at various point on the course. True??

[Dan Montilion]

My US horses tend to disappear about the 1/16th pole.

Dan Montilion

[Dick Schmidt]

46,

One course I went to featured all kinds of set ups for the races. One I saw was a mile, dead straight. A drag race for horses. Another I heard the announcer say "They're Off!" but damned if I could see a horse running anywhere. "Oh, they'll come from out back the trees over yonder." said the guy sitting next to us. Sure enough, a horse race soon emerged from back behind some trees on the far side of the course. They also mixed hurdle races in with the flat races, sometimes with little notice to the players. A grand and glorious confusion, not to be missed.

We stayed at a small B+B where the owner mentioned that there was a race course just down the road. Naturally I hopped in our car and went to take a look. Couldn't find it, no signs, no barns, no grandstands, nothing. When I told the landlord, he said I was blind and that I could see the course from a top window in his home. We went up and he pointed. All I could see was a field dotted with sheep. That's it, he said. Note the stands over under the trees? Sure enough, there were some rickety looking grandstands parked under some trees, looking like they had been condemned by a local high school football field. When I asked how often the track was used, he told me two days a year, one in the spring, one in the fall. Might draw as many as 5,000 people if the weather was fine. Irish racing, you gotta love it.

Dick

[46zilzal]

Lived in Texas for awhile and was "starved" to see the races. We went to a COW FIELD outside Columbus Texas where they raced, get this, 14 races, NO legal wagering and one contest was worth $100,000 total purse money. A straightaway down one side of a pasture (full of steers) had a single left handed turn (like the clubhouse turn) then just STOPPED. THAT was the race course. As quick as one heat would go, they would load up another one after a rickety old truck (the driver kept HUNTING for second gear) watered down the course in between these 300 yard heats. Most of the crowd were from Houston.

Wild...I am told we were somewhere near the infamous "Chicken Ranch" made famous in the musical "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas."

[Whirlaway]

I haven't read A Fine Place to Daydream : Racehorses, Romance, and the Irish (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1400042798/qid=1144251554/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/002-4018047-6340014?s=books&v=glance&n=283155) yet, but Barich's earlier book Laughing in the Hills, about Golden Gate is excellent. Might want to check it out.