Hippodrome de Vincennes (Yesh! I was there!)

Hi everyone. Back again after a long drought of non blogging. It has been awfully cold and still is. Clad in jacket, jeans down to socks in the house! Sigh. Problems with the french administration is just cascading down my shoulders and sometimes I just feel like calling for a half time. A small city state has its own benefits after all. At least Singapore is efficient.



Went to one of the biggest race course in France and that is the Hippodrome de Vincennes. Vincennes is the city beside Paris and yes, there you go, civilisation all over again! Yay! It's not that I don't like the countryside, but the town girl in me, loves to see some big shops and busy streets once in a while. It may sound perverse but town is action! Countryside is inaction.

Being invited to this course by one of the best horse trainers in France is indeed a huge privilege. Early in the morning at 8.30am, Kiba drove me to the Haras (a horse training farm) as I would be going on a big covered truck with the jockey, trainer and the two horses involved in the race. I can't even begin to describe how huge this truck was. You shall see for yourself. It was a fun 2+ hours ride to Vincennes as I was immersed in French gossips and chatters. I tried to study the French highway code but once I opened the book, my eyelids just felt heavy automatically. You have absolutely no idea how boring the French highway code is. Of course, it doesn't help a single bit that it's in French of course!



We reached the Hippodrome de Vincennes and with the trainer and jockey, I was allowed to go into the forbidden-to-public areas such as the horses' boxes where they rest before and after the race. I also got to see the warm up and cool down track, the shower boxes and all the preparations behind the scenes to get horses geared up for the races. Never have I expected myself to be involved in the French punting arena. It was truly a day in the life of a horse trainer's helper! It was immense fun and I would love to do it again!




This was also the first time I betted on a horse. I spent ten euros, putting a five on placements and another five for winning. The odds were 1-18 and if I did win, it would have been a jolly present indeed. The races were so exciting and without further ado, let me show you some snapshots! I was a crazy girl that day! Snapping all the way!The jockey, Aurelien, gets ready for the race, with trainer, Marie close behind



The jockey, Aurelien, gets ready for the race, with trainer, Marie close behind




The French horse races are divided into three categories in fact. As you can see, last Saturday's race was a trotting race with a sulky. A sulky is the blue structure as seen above. It consists of a seat and two wheels and it is extremely light. It is tied to the horse and the jockey has maintain the reins all the time and it requires a lot of forearm muscles. Accidents do happen when jockeys are thrown off the sulkys when they do not have enough strength to maintain the reins. It is incredibly exciting and of course, the jockeys have to train everyday. The horse pulls the sulky with the jockey on it and it's required to jog. Once, it starts to gallop, it will be disqualified immediately. The other two categories are horse back riding with the horse trotting and horse back riding with the horse galloping. Usually the races will be of one category for that day. As for last Saturday, there were 9 trot races with sulkys. It is pronounced as seeyouukees by the way.




Aurelien with the horse, Pocket Money, back from warm up in the big track





Magnificent steeds

The betting centre

The punters

The scale of justice! nah, this is to take the jockey's weight for horseback riding

Members only, was refused entry, but snapped away!