Horse Race Highlights

My sister, Julie, and I spent Saturday together checking out Tioga Downs. Neither of us had been to a horse race before, so it was a lot of fun! Here are some horse race highlights:

1. It was FREE! We did not have to pay for parking or admission.
2. Riding in the starting gate truck. They let people ride in the red truck that has the starting gate for the horse. And yes, of course Julie and I were eager to do this! We were on the track with the horses to watch them take off! Not just for one race, but for TWO! (So we could each have a turn in the best seat!)
3. Following the crowd. I'm sure most people could tell that Julie and I were clueless as to this whole horse race thing. Especially when everyone was lining up at the inside fence. We thought they were all there for a better view, so we proudly ran over and got a spot right by the finish line, Julie with her camera ready! Only to find out that everyone was lining up to throw squishy horses into a car that was going to drive by in order to win a prize. We headed away from the fence, slightly embarrassed that we were so pumped to be by the finish line for this less than thrilling event.
4. Betting on a horse. Throughout the night we learned more about how the betting works and what your options are. Still not being experts, we wandered over to buy a ticket. We picked horse #7 and watched The Evictor win FIRST PLACE!!! We cashed in our $2 ticket for $4.70!
5. Spending our winnings! After taking back the $2 we spent to bet on the horse, we each spent $1 in the casino. We still have no idea why people go in there. We were looking for games like they have at Chuck-E-Cheese, but every game at the casino is the same with different pictures on the screen. Neither of us turned our $1 into big money, but we still had our 70 cents, which we proudly split and each walked away from the night with 35 cents!

Here we are with the starting gate truck after our ride(s)! We came home and told all parents all about our night - through our laughter and excitement in sharing our stories, it wasn't hard to tell that it was a memorable night! Our first horse race was definitely and experience and a fun night to share as sisters.