After lunch, we decided to visit the Race Course nearby as we had never been to a live horse race before. I wanted to find out if our local horse race is anything like the Derby, the annual horse race in Surrey, South London.
At RM6 per person, the entrance fee was not too expensive. But the parking fee is a tad on the high side, at RM6.50 per entry.
The spectators were mostly race horse pundits and bookies, dressed like they were in their own home instead of in the public.......in dirty-looking shorts, T-shirts and slippers. And to think TC was afraid of being denied entry for not being appropriately attired. Local version of the Derby it certainly wasn't......hahaha.
We spoke to some of the regulars there, and learned that there are about 10 races each day. There are 2 race days a week, on Saturdays and Sundays, and the races take turns to be held in Penang, Perak and Kuala Lumpur.
After the horses were paraded for the pundits to view, the floor became as noisy as the trading floor of any healthy stock exchange. Orders were shouted and taken down, with the bookies calling for placements of bets on popular horses. Some, however, prefer to place their bets in a more dignified fashion and went to queue up at the betting booths. (No, we didn't bet as we couldn't figure out which are the better horses and jockeys.)
We also learned that as a horse gets more and more bets placed on it, the prize money drops. For example, yesterday, horse no. 1 was the favourite, and as bets were being placed, the prize money displayed on the score board continued to drop.
So, if you want to make a killing at the race course, bet on the least popular horse and the prize money will be quite hefty. But of course, the least popular horse usually means the chances of it winning the race is pretty slim. However, that is not to say the favourite horse is a sure winner, as yesterday, horse no. 1 did not win. When I commented on that, one of the regulars said that the horses have bad days, too. ;)
Bang! The race has begun...............
