Giddyup to Golden Gate Fields!

Every Sunday, Golden Gate Fields race track opens its gates to the public for 'Dollar Day', where you can eat hot dogs, drink beer and place bets, all for $1 a pop!






I have never been to watch horse racing, although I did turn £1 into £100 a couple of years ago when I won on the Grand National.




It was a lovely sunny day on Sunday, despite some sort of wind trap in the car park, where I did a Marilyn and flashed my undercrackers to the world. After this initial incident, though, it was great to sit in the stands, soaking up the sunshine, sipping on a mimosa, and attempting to eat my body weight in hotdogs (I managed three).








This is a totally fun, and cheap day out if you feel like trying something different. The most I placed on each bet was $2, which granted, in most cases, will not win you very much. But, it means you can take part in the fun without breaking the bank, and often you can at least win back what you spent with a little extra profit. I won the first bet I placed in the first race. It was very exciting to see my horse make it to the finish line first. My $2 bet won me $2.40, which, ok, I was a little disappointed at, but it meant that my next bet paid for itself and I had a whole 40 cents to spend on something else...












After losing the next few races, it came to my attention that it actually works out better if you bet to place or show (which means the horse you choose will come either first or second place or to show it can come first second or third). After I started using this tactic, I ended up making back the money I had lost on the previous races.










There were around eight or nine races in total, and although you don't have to bet in all of them (well, you don't actually have to be in any of them) it's more fun if you do. Once the race starts, the top 4 horses come up on the score board, and you start rooting (or in my case, shouting) but then right before the finish line, when the horses fly by, the board goes blank, and sometimes the top horses are so close that you are held in suspense, just waiting to see if you have won...










I can see how this gets addictive...