One One Was A Race Horse

On Saturday I finally managed to get my self to the track, I had a few dubious feelings about what it would be like, how it would look, quality of the horses etc but what I saw changed all that. It was plush, the grandstand and track (though dirt) was state of the art, it was exceptionally well set up and catered for many people who were there for a day out rather than a day of gambling. The inside of the track had a man made lake, a skate rink and picnic areas, to the side of the grandstand was where all the kids hung out, their parents had hired bikes for them and there was a good couple of hundred kids pulling skids next to the pony rides.

We walked in and the entrance was free, we buy a form guide and immediately realise we are going to have to sit down and work the fucker out as it was all in Hanguel (Korean word for Korean writing) we sit down right in front of the winning post and work out about a third of the race book, numbers are numbers where ever you are so it wasn't too hard and set about placing a bet. After a major mistake (I placed a $1000 bet instead of $10) I got it all sorted and set about finding the bird cage to get a look at the horses. The ring was just like any other except that it it's own smaller grandstand. The horses paraded around and when the jockeys came out before mounting they all lined up and bowed to the crowd!

There were four races on the card which were every hour on the hour and on the half hour the races from Seoul where broadcast on one of the biggest T.V screens I have ever seen which was just to the side of the winning post in front of the grandstand. Between races they did bloody track work! it was very confusing, I did manage to but a bet on a race in Seoul by looking at the horses about to work out at the Busan track!

They don't have all the betting systems that I'm used to , only 5 types. Win, Place, Quinella, Exacta and multiples of all of them, By the end of the day I was down $35 but pulled off a $38 collect in the last for a 3 buck win on the day.

The name of the track was Busan Gyeougnam Race Park and if your keen you can check it out on http://www.kra.co.kr/ click on the English button on the top right.

I did in my stuttering Pidgin Koran manage to cancel that $1000 bet and I know when my Dad reads this he would have been worrying right down to the last paragraph.