Today, I made a celebrity appearance at the races in Whangarei where Bronson's company Fell Engineering sponsors a race. We had our own box to sit in, a company tab, and I even won $20 on my first two horses! It was interesting going to a local race, since I've been to bigger ones like Gold Cup in Virginia and the races at Oatlands, but neither of those are on a dirt track. The races are based at ocean-front
Ruakaka Racecourse which hosts nine meetings per season. The racing surface has a well-earned reputation as New Zealand's finest 'all weather' track. Trainers base themselves in Ruakaka for the winter months due to the reliability of the track's racing surface.
After the Fell race, Brons got to congratulate the winners and give a nice little speech in the president's room, so Poli and I hiked up and enjoyed a few flutes of champagne and yummy much-needed finger sandwiches to escape the heat.
Here we are, looking oh so classy. It's probably the only room I've been in all summer that has air conditioning, and even after only three races, I was working on my tan more than I had anticipated. Ruakaka's club logo, "Where the turf meets the surf!" was definitely part of the day we enjoyed most, when Brons and I took a mid-day hiatus to eat sausages and take a break from G&Ts in exchange for a nice ocean breeze and watching beach goers stumble the sand dunes.
We did have a fun time hanging out with some of the cool older guys Brons works with, even getting betting tips and taking a peek at one lady's book - she had already marked it up with her list of bets that she made the night before. Someone does her homework!
Even though the boys came out as close to even as one can get gambling, we were still all smiles at the end of the day, or as much as you can be after sweating out several G&Ts and losing on the last race. Maybe next time I'll do my homework too.
