Jerzy arranged an special invite into the Turf Club @ Kranji! Good to know friends who know friends! Haha.
I was excited about the experience cos it's a place in Singapore that you wouldn't even think about visiting! I asked Jx, Hf and Busy Roys along.
It was just a 10 min walk from Kranji MRT station!
Oh boy, we were damn surprised at how busy and hustling and bustling the stadium (do you even call it a stadium?) was!
It kinda reminded me of Yankee Stadium in NYC, ha!
Anyway most of the ppl were uncles who walked briskly, keeping their eyes on the giant LCD screens, one hand holding betting slips, the other holding a pencil... it was bustling with life! I never had imagined Singapore Turf Club to be this active, until I stepped inside to witness for myself. That also explains why Kranji MRT boasts a super long chain of fare gates to accomodate the large hoarde!
We were led to this building, took a lift, walked through corridors before reaching a atas-looking viewing gallery. We found a table just behind the glass windows where a HUMOUNGOUS patch of green turf laid across the landscape. That was where the races are conducted!
So exciting!!! And since we were already here, why not try our luck? HA! So whilst waiting for our dinner to be prepared, we referred to newspapers and tips on which horses to bet on... The large television screen in the middle of the race circuit also provided latest race information like betting odds.
The time between each race is about 30 mins; during which the jockeys would parade their horses, conduct their warm up etc.
There were different types of races... like 1200m, 1600m, turf or gravel (??). The races were super exciting!!! When the horses are let out of their cubicles (??), they surge majestically against one another to compete for the inner lane. Normally the first half of the race doesn't tell much - I observed that the winners come strongest in the last few hundred metres. And it is also the last few hundred metres that we turn our attention from the Television to down there and shout for our horse's number! Haha. But in the atas viewing gallery, hardly anyone seemed excited...
Above: The horses racing ahead and straining their necks for a photo finish. So fast that the photo turned out to be a blur, lol.
Amazed and awed by the stamina and strength of the horses! They could sprint 2400km! Power!!!
We shared and bet on a few races and lost all but one, whose odds were 1:1. -_- Ah yes, the interesting thing about horse racing betting is that the winning odds are not fixed - you will only know when the race ends. Another interesting thing is that you can choose to bet on PLAS - i.e. if ur horse comes in top 3 among 7 or more horses, you win $$$ !!! Sounds easy but as above - we won only once. And the newspaper tips bo bao one lor... those hot favourites don't even win! pui!!!
Luckily during the 2nd last race of the day, I placed a side bet on number 4 "Bumble Bee". I bet $5 on PLAS and dear Bumble Bee came in 2nd!!! =D
Have walked out happily, joyfully, gracefully, with winnings from:
- Las Vegas .........................TICK
- Singapore Turf Club ............TICK
Hahahahhaha.
That ended the exciting day... Fortunately Jx drove so we didn't have to chug all the way back to Tampines, ha!
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