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As a diversion from some antagonistic threads, I’d be interested to hear where you’ve all been in the world.   Any amusing pecularities you’d like to tell us about.  Apologies for getting this from Betfair and for my feminine comments.
Not that many in England, mostly these I think:<br>Ascot, Bath, Brighton, Carlisle, Cartmel,  Cheltenham, Lingfield,  Newbury,  Ripon,  Sandown Park,  Sedgefield,  although I’ve set foot on a lot more, plus a couple of point to points in the south east where I recall seeing old Real Value, who later became a useful hunter/handicapper, first run. Great pleasure in that actually. ÂÂÂ
I enjoy Brighton the most, they’ve improved it a lot and I like the situation and quirky character.
I’ve never been racing at Warwick but walked part of the track where my boyfriend  insisted on taking a photo of me jumping one of the fences along the side [opposite the car park].  This was mid summer so only the base rail was in position.  He took a head on shot and me being in highish heels I clipped the bar and I went arse over tit and sprained my ankle!!  things I do for men, and I married him :shrug: :laugh:
Overseas :<br>Bundamba – sw of Brisbane, quaint country track as  I remember it some time ago, where all the young men wore Cowboy hats – mmm….quite fetching. <br>Eagle Farm -Brisbane’s best known – a most pleasant day out, usually great weather, and near the airport if you like to see the jumbo’s taking off.  However I did get a stern rebuke when I wandered into  the annual members….lol!  Good restaurants just down the road opposite.<br>Rosehill, Sydney – it was so wonderful I’ve completely forgotten.
Hollywood Park – great food, all the seats have little dining tables and again usually terrific weather with good turf races.   Near the airport so  you’ll have to put up with aircraft so close you can wave to the pilots [yeah I do that too – sad].  Beautifully tended gardens all round as you might expect.
Where you been :)  ??<br>
I’ve done all the current UK National Hunt courses apart from Ascot, Ayr, Chepstow, Folkestone, Fontwell, Huntingdon (no excuses anymore now I live a 20 minute train ride away!), Kelso, Musselburgh, Newcastle and Sandown. I’ll strike Ascot off the list next weekend, all being well.
Got to Windsor when they briefly reintroduced the winter code there, and my first ever racing experience was of a jumps meeting at Wolverhampton in March 1983, but Nottingham and I sadly never had the pleasure.
I’ve visited numerous PtP tracks, some of these from memory being Chaddesley Corbett, Charm Park, Clifton-upon-Dunsmore, Dalton Park, Dingley, Easingwold, Eaton Hall, Thorpe Lodge and Upper Sapey. There are more besides these. I have never touched the west country or southern circuits, but hope to put that right this winter.
I’ve walked around quite a few foreign tracks, but never got to them on raceday – these would include Bremen, Hamburg and Hoppegarten in Germany, Vienna in Austria and Budapest (veeeeeeeery basic course!) in Budapest. France and Ireland remain unconquered to any extent.
Jeremy<br>(graysonscolumn)<br>
Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
Laurel Park<br>Pimlico; both Maryland
Four great days out in these ancient and traditionalist tracks – lovely people and an enthusiastic crowd. £1.50 to get in and dead cheap beer. No bookies. Win over $500 and you have to pay tax.
(Where DOES this hegemonistic myth come from that bookies add to the atmosphere on a racetrack? People create atmosphere and to be honest, you could replace bookies tomorrow on the racecourse and the day out would not be affected one iota).
Delaware Park (Delaware)<br>Charlestown (West Virginia)
Both free to get in due to slot machines. The former is magnificent, (a huge place), the latter great fun but not really to be taken too seriously. 4 furlong races in an oval smaller than Wolver.
Sam Houston Raceway – Houston, Texas<br>Will Rogers Downs – Claremont, Oklahoma<br>Fair Meadows, Tulsa, Oklahoma
Real cowboy tracks. Anyone who enjoys the Old West will love the atmosphere here. Simulcasting from all over America and a hard core, enthusiastic crowd in each. A couple of dollars to get in, cheap food, cheap beer.
Also: Truro Raceway, Nova Scotia, Canada.
Chariot racing where the crowd was so sparse, a $5 winning bet led to a Deep Impact style compressed dividend of 1-3. Beautiful part of the world though.
Loads of UK flat and d*g tracks – a regular at Southwell and Nottingham.
A cheerful thread at last!:biggrin:
The Curragh, <br>had  a great few days there when Vintage Tipple won the Oaks, Kildare doesn’t look much of a town but I had good meals there. Went to the Irish National Stud and stayed 6 hours.
Longchamp, <br>last year when Hurricane Run won the Arc, the Landlord of our pub tried to hurdle the fence around a champagne bar and fell !, I liked the marquee across the road afterwards, very cheap food and drink.
Garrison Savannah in Barbados, went on Diamond Day see september archive at http://www.threenaps.blogspot.com
(Edited by threenaps at 11:20 pm on Oct. 21, 2006)<br>
(Edited by threenaps at 11:22 pm on Oct. 21, 2006)
Dingle in County Kerry not a recognised track under rules but in an idyllic setting with the Atlantic as a back-drop and GREAT fun!!:cool:
Colin
I have been to a few in this country but the only one abroad that I’ve visited is Del Mar Race Track in California which holds racing during the summer months. A very pleasant and friendly racecourse but I was surprised how quiet the americans were. It wasn’t until I started cheering for my selection ( shock – yes, I backed a winner – maybe I should go abroad more often;) ) that everyone around me joined in and some races were run in a quiet atmosphere even when the favorite won.<br>
Ayr race course is my course at the minute, due to it only being about 5 minutes drive from our house .. I used to go the Beverley a lot when I was a kid.
(Edited by dave jay at 12:04 pm on Oct. 22, 2006)
Been to many tracks in the uk over the years – my favourites are haydock in the north huntingdon in midlands and plumpton on the south coast – also been to couple of trotting meetings in spain – great fun!!
Been to 34 UK tracks. All enjoyable – Vive la Difference, though have no real inclination to visit the Rowley Mile again. Intend to get around all 59…60? eventually. Fontwell tops the ‘really must visit soon’ list.
Abroad it’s been Punchestown, Curragh, Leopardstown, Longchamp and Chantilly. Fancy Tralee and Deauville sometime.
Only 8 for me.
If it’s not in Scotland (all 5 tracks) or in Paris (Longchamp, Auteuil, Saint Cloud), I’ve not been there.
Steve
Musselburgh and Kelso are my local tracks but also enjoy a jaunt to York for the Ebor meeting. Have not managed further South than that yet, well excpet for the Southern Hemisphere and the Gold Coast track in Australia. Absolutely brilliant !
All bar 11 of the British racecourses. My favourite is the one I went to first: Kempton.
Leopardstown and Punchestown in Ireland.
Longchamp and Autueil (non-racing day) in France.
Les Landes (very good) in Jersey.
Bangalore, Mysore and Ooty (non-racing day) in India. Bangalore was good, for all that I backed 8 losers out of 8!
Sha Tin In Hong Kong.
Hope to get to Mumbai in a few weeks.
For some totally random reasons I have been to quite a few courses on non-racing days, Moscow probably being the most exotic.
Racing, I’ve done 30ish UK tracks, plus a couple of Irish, Taby in Sweden and Belmont Park.
Good thread and has certainly got me thinking/reminiscing:
Britain:  Aintree, Ascot, Bangor-On-Dee, Brighton, Carlisle, Cheltenham, Chepstow, Doncaster, Epsom, Fakenham, Folkestone, Goodwood, Haydock, Hereford, Hexham, Huntingdon, Kempton, Leicester, Lingfield, Ludlow, Market Rasen, Newbury, Newmarket x2, Nottingham, Perth, Pontefract, Ripon, Sandown, Southwell, Stratford on Avon, Thirsk, Towcester, Uttoxeter, Warwick, Windsor, Wolverhampton, Worcester, Yarmouth, York.  Also went to Teeside Park (Stockton) when it was still open. ÂÂÂ
Have been to too many Point to Point tracks to name – but many have these have been my favourite experiences on a course – particularly at Ampton, Chaddesley Corbett and Cottenham.
Ireland:  Curragh, Fairyhouse (for the first time last Saturday), Leopardstown, Punchestown.  Also went to Phoenix Park when it was still open.  Also went to my first Irish Point to Point on Sunday – Tattersalls Farm for the Ward Union and absolutely loved it!
France:  Auteuil, Cagnes Sur Mer, Chantilly, Deauville, Longchamp, Maison-Laffitte, Saint Cloud, Toulouse.  Also went to Evry when it was still open
Germany:  Baden-Baden, Koln
Canada:  Woodbine
USA:  Aqueduct, Arlington Park, Atlantic City, Belmont Park, Churchill Downs, Gulfstream Park, Hollywood Park, Keeneland, Laurel, Lone Star Park, Santa Anita
Russia:  Pyatigorsk.  I’ve only been to trotting at Moscow<br>so this doesn’t count.
Asia:  Happy Valley and Sha Tin (Hong Kong),  Kranji (Singapore), Nad al Sheba and Jebel Ali (Dubai)
Australia:  Canterbury, Rosehill, Warwick Farm ÂÂÂ
Brazil:  Gavea (Rio de Janeiro)
My favourite track is Arlington Park – a triumph of design and luxury for all classes of racegoer. ÂÂÂ
My favourite day’s racing is the Breeders’ Cup because of it’s intensity but I also enjoy Hong Kong International Day and Royal Ascot is my favourite meeting.
Tracks I most want to visit:
In Britain:  Cartmel and Chester
In Ireland – any of the other jumps course
In France – any of the provincial jumps courses and Enghien
In USA – Del Mar and Saratoga
In rest of the world – St. Moritz (looks magnificent), Garrison Savannah, Flemington and Randwick (although I’ve been there for lunch when no racing on).  I’d also like to go bush racing in Australia – anywhere where you can feel involved.
(Edited by Adrian at 12:53 pm on Oct. 24, 2006)<br>
(Edited by Adrian at 12:58 pm on Oct. 24, 2006)
Gosh !  thanks for responding, some of these are quite fascinating –  places I’ve never heard of.  Just got a few questions if any of you are still looking in :
Graysonscolumn:<br>What was the matter with Budapest – very basic ? in what way exactly – a dump ??<br>where is Upper Sapey please ? I’m thinking I might have passed it by at some point,  Yorkshire??
Maxilon 5,<br>some of those seem quite obscure, what made you visit them if you don’t mind me asking – was it work related or just passing through.  Just wondered.
Adrian,<br>Wow!!  is there anywhere you haven’t been ?  my goodness, and you’ve not been to Cartmel yet – you haven’t lived !! haha!
again if it’s not too intrusive, was this through work or something you’ve managed to do over many years, holidays etc.
One other question:<br>does anyone remember LEWES ?  it ceased I think in 1964 but if any mature member on here can recall going there I have a couple of questions I’d like to ask about it.  Thanks.   Only I walked around the track [now a training gallop] earlier this summer.:)  ÂÂÂ
Quote: from Lovely Lady on 3:57 pm on Oct. 24, 2006[br]<br>Graysonscolumn:<br>What was the matter with Budapest – very basic ? in what way exactly – a dump ??<br>where is Upper Sapey please ? I’m thinking I might have passed it by at some point,  Yorkshire??<br>
<br>Budapest racecourse has not, it would be fair to say, had much money and TLC lavished upon its course and facilities even in its post-Communist days. It’s in one part of the city, just east of the railway station, which is still very much waiting its turn to be rejuvenated wholesale – given the scandal enveloping the country at present regarding the government’s catastrophic mismanagement of public funding, it may have to wait a deal longer yet.
I never got there on raceday, mind, so it might make up for its shortcomings in atmosphere then.
Upper Sapey is on the Herefordshire / Worcestershire border, just on the side of the former. I think it doubles up as an eventing / cross-country venue, given some of the obstacles littering the infield. It is home to the Clifton-on-Teme meeting in late April or early May, and regularly plays host to:
(a) one of the worst mixed opens on the calendar (largely due to many of its potential pool of runners having been engaged at Bredwardine and / or Chaddesley Corbett either side of it),
(b) lots and lots of Millingtons,
(c) something belonging to Nick Shutts running in the Members’ race. When I went in 2005 his Wyle Post went off the 1-6F in a two-runner renewal, and managed to take the wrong course….
(d) some injudiciously wielded umbrellas significantly impeding the view from Edward Dingle’s commentary box.
It reminded me a bit of a right-hand Sedgefield in sharpness and undulations, and, truth be told, beyond its very cheap admission fee is not a PtP venue I’d recommend for a visit especially.
Jeremy<br>(graysonscolumn)
(Edited by graysonscolumn at 5:32 pm on Oct. 24, 2006)
Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
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