Today Keith and I celebrated the 27th anniversary of our first date, when we went to Brighton for the day! We'd decided to go to Leicester races for a day out with a stop off at a pub on the way home for a meal.
We left at midday and I filled up with diesel in a very busy Market Harborough. From the town it was a mere half an hour's journey to the racecourse which is right on the edge of Leicester.
As we were early we had time to stroll around in the lovely sunshine, eat a beef bap (delicious!) and have a cup of coffee while studying the form. The last time we'd been to this particular venue, I'd been pregnant with Sophie so that tells you how long ago it was! We used to regularly go racing and we both enjoy it immensely.
We both like National Hunt racing over either hurdles or fences and the races are usually quite long, unlike the sprints on the flat. Leicester holds both flat and NH racing and I think today was the last set of races over the jumps.
Before the first race we went to look at the horses as they were walked around the parade ring. I always like to see the beautiful animals and the horse I'd picked in the first race, Bebinn, looked gorgeous. He pranced around looking at everything and I swear he kept looking at Keith as he was led past! Both of us decided to bet on this horse, so after the jockeys had appeared, chatted to the owners and then mounted their rides we left to go and place our bets with the bookmakers who had lined up their display boards by the stands.
I put a £5 bet on Bebinn but Keith put £20 on to win. He was the favourite but there's never any guarantees in horse-racing! We took our place on the stands and waited for the horses to come out and canter over to the starting point. It was a beautiful day, still, with lots of sunshine but the wind was a little cold. I was just glad it wasn't raining!
I'd forgotten how much I love the excitement of racing as it's been so long since Keith and I have treated ourselves to a day out. As the horses came into view on their second and last circuit I was jumping up and down as Bebinn took the lead and won!
In the second race, a horse called Val de Law was the clear favourite, so much so that it wasn't worth placing a bet on him, in our view anyway. We went for the second favourite, Cash and Go, and we hoped that he would be able to beat the more favoured horse. Again, we went to have a look at the parade ring and then it was back to place our bets.
Imagine our delight and amazement when Cash and Go won, even though as they were coming up to the winning post he was four lengths behind at one point! This particular horse was trained by Venetia Williams, one of the best trainers in the country so we knew he had a good chance!
In the third race I just had to have a bet on a horse called Lamb's Cross while Keith went for Thoresby. I had an each way bet so I would win a percentage of the money if my horse came first, second or third. Keith said that the ideal result would be his horse to come first and mine to come second...which is what happened! I was ecstatic as Lamb's Cross wasn't even the third favourite to win and was a bit of an outsider, so I was thrilled to get a bit of money back!
In the fourth race we both went for Cloud Creeper but the end was a bit spoiled by an argument we had with Mikey who'd been under the illusion that Sophie was going to drive him to Brixworth...! Er no, I don't think so! He'd come home from school and made plans to go and see some friends so he was pretty disappointed to find out he was going nowhere! Anyway, Cloud Creeper won for us so now Keith had had four winners out of four. He was very pleased as that meant our evening's dinner was paid for!
In the fifth race I chose a horse called Bravo Riquet but I secretly fancied Kerryhead Storm to win. However, when I've picked my horses I try not to change my mind as it would be galling if I changed my choice and then my original horse went on to win! Keith picked Kerryhead Storm and it won, predictably! I wish now I'd had an each way bet on Bravo Riquet but I was thrilled that Keith won as it meant more money towards dinner!
We'd both agreed not to have a bet in the last race as it was a Hunters' Steeple Chase and the riders were amateur jockeys. However, we decided at the last minute to go for Siro Demur (me) and the favourite for Keith, Neverownup. We watched from the stands and I had a very good run for my money as Siro Demur was runner-up to an outsider, El Mondo.
We both agreed we'd had a fabulous day and we returned to the car to make our way to the village of Manton where we were hoping we'd get a table for dinner at the, aptly named, Horse and Jockey pub. If we were unsuccessful we were going to return to the pub at Wing we'd visited on New Year's Day and my birthday and which was only a couple of miles away.
Luckily the pub was very quiet and there was no problem with a table. We had a couple of drinks first, sitting on some very comfortable chairs in front of a wood burning stove and then we were seated at a table in the small restaurant.
We both went for exactly the same starter and main course - smoked mackerel pate followed by fish and chips. The food was delicious and we ended our meal with a strawberry sundae for me and cheese and biscuits for Keith. It had been a really lovely end to my week's holiday and we both agreed we'd definitely go racing again, maybe next time with the kids so they could experience the excitement!
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