Yesterday five of us went to the Pune race course, thanks to a friend who had got passes to the Johnnie Walker Event. It was my first time with horse racing, and most likely, will be the last. Not only because I lost money, but I realized I don't belong to that world. 
It was definitely fun, being in a group of five who were all rank amateurs in the world of racing and betting. All around us, the ambience of Page 3 had come alive. We sat looking around, sipping our cocktails and studiously trying to make sense of the cole. This book is far more complicated than a railway time table and we couldn't understand a word of it.
Slowly we got around to understanding about mares, fillies, jockeys, owners, trainers, jackpots, tanala and what all. By the 3rd or 4th race, we were even vehemently arguing amongst ourselves about the next favourite. Of course, any experienced better privy to our conversation would have fainted listening to our 'expert comments'. Our favourites usually got decided like this - "Wow, that black horse looks really nice, I like this one. Yes, but that brown one looked more alert. Really? OK then, lets bet 20 rupees on each of them"...
One of the results was truly hilarious. There were six horses running, and since there were five of us, we decided to single out the one whom we thought would NOT win, and then individually bet on the rest of the five. The idea being - make enough money collectively to have a drink in the evening. So while studying the horses' history, we found that one of them had had an arthroscopy done. Since we had a surgeon amongst us, he was duly called upon to unravel the mysteries of arthroscopy. Hearing him, we were convinced that this horse would be no match for the others. And guess what, THAT VERY HORSE WON THE RACE! So much for our study.
This clearly proved two things. One - we know nothing about horses and racing. Two - the vet who performed that arthroscopy must be damn good!
I am back from the races, 260 rupees minus. Moral of the story - when it comes to gambling I really need to hold my horses !
Slowly we got around to understanding about mares, fillies, jockeys, owners, trainers, jackpots, tanala and what all. By the 3rd or 4th race, we were even vehemently arguing amongst ourselves about the next favourite. Of course, any experienced better privy to our conversation would have fainted listening to our 'expert comments'. Our favourites usually got decided like this - "Wow, that black horse looks really nice, I like this one. Yes, but that brown one looked more alert. Really? OK then, lets bet 20 rupees on each of them"...
One of the results was truly hilarious. There were six horses running, and since there were five of us, we decided to single out the one whom we thought would NOT win, and then individually bet on the rest of the five. The idea being - make enough money collectively to have a drink in the evening. So while studying the horses' history, we found that one of them had had an arthroscopy done. Since we had a surgeon amongst us, he was duly called upon to unravel the mysteries of arthroscopy. Hearing him, we were convinced that this horse would be no match for the others. And guess what, THAT VERY HORSE WON THE RACE! So much for our study.
This clearly proved two things. One - we know nothing about horses and racing. Two - the vet who performed that arthroscopy must be damn good!
I am back from the races, 260 rupees minus. Moral of the story - when it comes to gambling I really need to hold my horses !
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1 comment:
hehe..
never been to horse racing myself.. but after reading this.. wud like to try..and wud certainly bet on a horse that had arthroscopy done before :)
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