Day at the Races

Yesterday we spent the afternoon with friends watching the horse races at Seoul Racecourse Park. Having never experienced a horse race before, I was pleasantly surprised at what an enjoyable and relaxing time it turned out to be. The race park was huge and, as usual, flooded with about 5 million Koreans. They had a special private lounge for foreigners to view the races in air conditioned comfort. Once we figured out how to interpret the odds and each horse's stats, we tried our hand at placing a few small bets. Amazingly, you can bet as little as 100 won (equivalent to about 6-7 cents) on a horse. A new race started about every 30 minutes so we were able to try out some different betting strategies each time. We all won at least a few thousand won, so in the end our losses were minimal.

Great view of the track from the plush foreigner's lounge. It was a beautiful, sunny, spring day and in between races we got to admire the awesome mountain view.

Looking to the left...

...and the right. The finish line was just beyond the corner of the window so we got to see the horses racing to the end.

For the last 2 races of the day we went down to the track to experience the excitement up close.

This guy was standing right next to us and I couldn't resist taking a picture. What it made it even better was the picture of Mickey Mouse on the front.

Can't get away from the crowds! People were taking it all very seriously and intensely studying the race programs before placing bets.



Racing to the finish!