At the races!

This weekend Graham and I headed up to Kingman, AZ to check out the Hualapai Downs 42nd annual Horse Races. Most of the people we know had no clue there are horse races there; so we didn't have a lot to go on. I did not have any expectations because I have never been to a live horse race, Graham set his expectations a little to high!

There were probably about 300 people in attendance; and that filled most of the "grand stands". For their 42nd year we thought it should be a bit bigger (they should probably advertise on the radio that would be a start). The track can only fit 8 horses per race, so with horses scratching out that left one race with only 4 horses.

The prices were pretty reasonable: $1 to park, $3 entrance fee, $2 program, $3 beers (they had a open bar too!), $4 Hot Dog/Hamburger, $3 kettle corn - not too shabby for event pricing!

We got situated in the stands and started making our "winning" selections, then went to look around; that's when we saw the jockeys. Not what I expected to say the least, the jockeys were a rough bunch. I could go on and on, but the pictures really say a thousand words.






To say the least we were not really impressed with what the horses had to work with. Good thing the horses came out next, they were beautiful - If we had not seen them we probably would have just left. We placed a bet for the first race and took our places in the grandstand. We picked a gray horse to place in the first race. It seemed to take forever for the horses to get ready and in the gates and then all of a sudden they were off!


It was pretty exciting seeing the horses race live and we were pretty close to the track as you can see. Unfortunately our horse did not win or place. But it was cool to see two of the horses really going for it at the end.


We only stayed for the next race, the horse we bet on bucked his jockey right before entering the gate. The horse must have been worn out after that; he tuckered right out and finished dead last. We were done after that, it's nice seeing the race live, but we will wait until this race gets a bit bigger before we go again. I guess we will stick to the sports book at Don Laughlin's Riverside Casino.


-Sarah