So yesterday we headed to the pub to watch my favourite horse race of they year – The Grand National (see posts from previous years) and as usual the race didn’t disappoint, horses and jockeys flying everywhere.
Briefly, the Grand National is a steeplechase (race with big jumps) that is run over 4 miles, due to the size of the jumps, the length of the race and the number of horses in the race it is dangerous and unpredictable as horses tend to trip over the jumps or sending jockeys and horses flying which then turn into more obstacles. Also a lot of the times the horses whom have ejected their riders continue on in the race causing further distractions as jockeyless horses weave in and out along the track. For this reason it means the odds are high as virtually any horse could win and means just about everyone takes a punt (English term meaning to take a gamble) on the race – sadly this year there were no winners in our group but it was still a good reason to head to the pub on a nice spring day.
The temperature reached 17 degrees (63 celsius) this weekend which also meant that there were loads of people whom stripped down to bare legs and flip flops to catch some rays, we even saw someone in a bikini laying in the park – trust me, it wasn’t that warm but I give her credit for her dedication to sun kissed looking skin. It will be a bit longer before I am brave enough to bring my white milk bags out in public – regardless it was a great way to kick off spring.
Grand National 2010 (no animals or jockeys were seriously harmed during the making of this video)