South African Derby

Today we went to Turffontein Racecourse located in Johannesburg to see the South African Derby. It was a beautiful day for horse racing. We parked in the infield of one of the four tracks they have.

We arrived for the 3rd race and placed our first bet for the 4th race. Steph picked "Control Freak" to show and I picked "High Five" to win. I placed the bets and we went to watch the race. Control Freak came in third and we were very excited (see Steph's pic below). Then we learned after the fact that they do not take show bets (only win and place) so I was a bit annoyed that the teller did not say anything to me when I initially placed the bets.

We went to tour the rest of the track and grounds. It was very nice and you could see in its time it must have been a premier place to be for racing. Below is a view of the paddock area.

Here is a shot of the SA Derby it was time to go place our bets! One of our picks was the #2 horse, Pomodoro! From the screen you can see that they run clockwise.

Here is the final 50 meters of the race and Pomodoro was neck and neck with Royal Bencher.

I was happy to see that Pomodoro was in a dead heat with Royal Bencher. Then there was a objection made by Royal Bencher that Pomodoro had bumped him. The objection was overruled and we had a winner!!!

Before we went to collect we took a look at the paddock up close. It is always great to see the horses up close.

We got a nice chuckle from the sign.

With the payout! A whopping 50 Rand, YOOHOO!

It looked like a storm was coming so we decided to leave with our winnings. It was a great day to be at the races.