Chapter 3 - DAY 5 - Ripon Races

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RIPON RACES

After yesterdays excitement it was a later start and a quiet breakfast to kick off the day before we headed to Ripon (about an hour north east of Skipton) for the Ripon Races.

The drive over was very pleasant lovely green rolling countryside and not too much traffic – just the odd tractor to hold things up! We got to Ripon about an hour before the gates opened so collected our tickets and headed off to have a look around the town. It was Bank Holiday Monday so not many shops were open but it was a nice town and it wasn’t difficult to fill in our spare hour. We also filled the car up for the first time since leaving London – only took 40 Pounds to fill so looks like upgrading to a diesel car might pay dividends (from London to Skipton and a fair bit of driving around up here for 40 Pounds gas seems pretty good to us).

THE RACES
Ripon is known as Yorkshires Garden Race Course and it’s not hard to see why, there was a mass of floral colour wherever we looked, very pretty. We had pre booked a Dine and View option from home – basically the Club makes one of its corporate boxes available and sells off tables to the public. It’s a great idea you get a meal, a bottle of wine (which I managed to change for the equivalent value in beer!) and a great view of the track from the balcony outside our suite.

The big difference between here and home was the on course bookies – there were heaps of them. In the end we stuck with the official betting agency, they were located just outside our box and operated exactly like the TAB. I think the big advantage with the bookies is you get your bet back plus the odds when you win so return is a bit better.

The thing that stuck out about the track was its size-it was huge and the home straight seems to go on forever. For a few of the races it was literally a straight sprint from start to finish, we had the unusual sight of horses hugging the rail on both sides of the course with a huge gap in the middle. The turf also looked quite undulating.

We had our leisurely lunch from 1pm and settled in for the afternoon. There were only six races on the card (first race 2.25pm last race 5.30PM) so quite a short day. Betting didn’t go too well. We didn’t know anything about the horses, jockeys, track (some would say that’s no disadvantage!). In the end we got one winner and three places so not too bad (for big fields they pay out for 4th place which was a big surprise-we got one of those) As a result we had enough to stop at a country pub (the Nelson) on the way home for a very nice meal.

Our only hassle was getting out of the car park at the end. We were parked in paddocks and there were no marshals on so it was a free for all to get out, resulting in a series of mini traffic jams – it took about 30 minutes to clear the car park.

Two really hectic days so looking forward to a quieter one tomorrow. We also need to organise where we when and where we go post Skipton and send home a bunch of stuff so we have a little bit of room in our suitcases.

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Photos

Room with a View
Our Dine and View Balcony overlooking the finishing line

Yorkshires Garden Racecourse
Splashes of colouir everywhere

A good crowd
It was a big day for the Club abd despite the mixed weather plenty of people turned up to enjoy the day. Not the home straight stretching off into the distance

Parade Ring
The Parade Ring generated plenty of interest