I like to go along to the horse racing when I get the opportunity and after our stay in New Orleans Jen and I had moved out of town to Arnaudville. It’s a small town that’s only around twenty minutes drive from the Evangeline track. As there was a meeting going on during our stay we called in one evening.
The track seems to be secondary to the casino, which was far busier than the racing. It was free to get in although few of the people present had much of an interest in the live racing and spent their time on the big betting hall that had races on the telly from other locations around the country.
It was a strange atmosphere indoors as smoking was allowed. It felt like going back in time twenty-years. Maybe it’s a casino thing, although the casino wasn’t what I consider a casino. I always expect to see Bond in a tuxedo playing Baccarat, but instead we got Bart Simpson’s aunts feeding the fruities.
The racing was probably the most unusual that I’ve seen, bar the races for midget horses in Jeju where the jockeys could bring them to a halt by putting their boots to the ground. Each race was no longer than 350 yards, with some of them just 250 yards. It meant that only those horses that could make a lightning start were in with a chance.
Something else that was unusual was that there were always exactly six horses in each race, like going to the dogs. There were only six jockeys in total as well, each of them riding in every race.
Our betting strategy of Jen selecting a horse on the basis of its name paid off and we finished up well ahead. I resisted the urge to play the slots on the way out and we headed back to Arnaudville quids in.
Trail of the Lion King 