A Racy Ladies' Night

Ladies' Night...
...at the races, that was how I spent my 'annual significant day' this year - how lovely and happy it was too. Nothing to spoil it, just a super time with some great friendly people.

Now this is the point where I'm supposed to reveal my knowledge of horse racing, This is also the point where I will hold my hands up and say, I know nothing! All I know is that I have enjoyed a couple of similar race events, courtesy of the same kind host. So this now being my third experience, you would have thought I might have got to know how things work when it comes to placing a bet, right?
Wrong! I know nothing! It is still like a secret code.

I'm not a betting person but our host had kindly bought a Tote ticket for all the ladies present - seeing as it was Ladies' Night and I thought it would be a shame to waste it. But what to choose? I knew there are bets to win, and each way bets, so I wisely decided to split the stake over three races. Recalling my first ever horse racing bet a few years previous, I had selected 'Dudley Docker' purely because of the name - and it came in as the winner. Beginners luck! Employing the same formula seemed like a good idea so I looked down the race card, with No 6 'The Tailgater' running in the first race appealing to me. The second race had just four runners and I thought my odds for picking the winner would be good (what do I know?), until someone pointed out that the odds on each horse were very poor and I should skip to the third race, where I chose No 5 'Put The Boot In' and finishing off the last of my bets on No 3 'Occasionally Yours' in the fifth race.

Winner of the 5.25 - The Tailgater

The 5.25 at Huntingdon got under way, racegoers watching on the big screen until the group of horses came into view at the far corner, then jumping two hurdles before coming alongside the grandstand where I swiftly trained my camera on No 6. This wasn't the sprint for the finish but was useful for panning practise, and the horses went round again. Now in the final furlong, my lens was once again trained on No 6, the five way image stabilisation in my Olympus E-M5ii coming into play as I tried to contain my excitement when I watched 'The Tailgater' completely contradict his name by coming in first, at the front.

My first win of the night! Call this win Birthday luck!

I had high hopes for race three with 'Put The Boot In' but sadly I ended up turning my attentions to watching the crowd as No 5 came tailgating in at the back of the pack.

Race five - The 7.30 and 'Occasionally Yours' seemed to be emanating from the tannoy with reassuring regularity and as the horses passed the grandstand for the first time, the lovely bay gelding was comfortably placed just back from the front position.

Down to the final furlong now, and the female jockey was inching 'Occasionally Yours' ahead of 'Rolling Dough'...

Winner of the 7.30 - Occasionally Yours

Striding for the finish and No 3 went over the line in first place, providing me with my second win of the evening. Hooray!

Time to wander off and to take a look around the parade enclosure, and collect my winnings. It is actually enough to buy myself a replacement bottle of my favourite perfume - I guess you could say it is indirectly a birthday gift from our host - Thank you Alan!

In the paddock, a pensive Sean Quinlan, a champion hunt jockey, was waiting for the start of The 8.00, the penultimate race of the evening.

Back alongside the rails, punters eagerly watched the race on the big screen in the now chill air of the evening, and just as the race came to its climax, the sun reappeared as if someone had switched on the stage lights, subtly back-lighting the runners as they galloped by.

The day and the evening had also galloped by, and with just one last race to round off the evening, this little mite couldn't quite stay awake to the end.

Our grateful thanks to Alan Woods at AJW Distribution  for a splendid evening.

Iceland - Landscapes

Icelandic horses on the plains to the east of Reykjavik

I'm not going to say much about this series of landscape images from my recent visit to Iceland, only I hope you enjoy them and maybe it will whet your appetite to visit this land of stunning contrasts too. Several of these shots were taken on the move in an attempt to capture the images I would have so loved to have spent a little more time setting up. This is part of the frustrations of being a photographer with someone else in charge of the driving - be it in a jeep or a 56 seater coach. So I guess this visit I have treated as the 'city bus tour' to get the taster of where I would like to return to, and next time I will ensure that I am more in control of the wheels that are getting me around.
I weep at all the stunning missed shots during the 4 days but I'm delighted I was able to capture some images to remind me of this amazing place.

Rainbow over the snowfields on the way to the Langjokull glacier

View from Þingvellir across Þingvallavatn

The Sólheimajökull glacier

The church at Þingvellir

The church at Vik

The stack rocks as seen from Vik

The sea stack and black basalt sand at Reynisfjara

And of course, everyone was asking "Did you see the aurora?"
Well, yes we did but...

On our third evening, following a period of snowfall, we went way out of Reykjavic up into the National Park. However, it wasn't far enough to be able to exclude the lights of the city, being reflected in the low cloud. Coupled with the fact we only had a 10-15 minute 'light show' it was a challenge to commit anything to the memory card. In fact, I only managed to capture three images that night which were worth giving a second look. Considering I had hired a lens specifically suitable for photographing the aurora, it made the (not so spectacular) image below rather a valuable shot!

We found out later, that the aurora kicked off a couple of hours after we had returned to the city, and was also spectacular the following evening when we opted for an early night in readiness for our flight back to the UK next morning.

Being a wildlife photographer too, I understand more than most that you can't just 'turn up and see' any natural happening such as this. It is all down to a series of conditions all aligning and then being in the right place at that time. So despite being a little disappointed with my first ever sighting of the aurora, I remain philosophical that this won't be the first and last, and as always, strive to improve image on image...but I do have a record shot. That will suffice for now, until I return to Iceland for a complete photography indulgence.

Anyone up for a visit to Iceland?!!

No Racing Today

The Newmarket Stallion stood majestically in the fog, with the sun desperately trying to break through as I arrived in the Suffolk home of horse racing this morning. Having always intended to stop to take a look at this impressive statue,
I finally grabbed my chance today and gave my shot a little bit of extra photographic compensation to capture it at its most impressive before going on my way.

I was on route to a shoot at the Millennium Grandstand on the Rowley Mile Racecourse, and although there would be no racing at Newmarket today (after all Cheltenham is currently in full swing), I would still be shooting winners...
of a different kind ...at an awards ceremony.
With the shoot over, I was able to indulge in a spot of unhindered exploring (one of the perks of the job I suppose). Sadly, the stunning view across this racecourse towards the July Racecourse was not about to be revealed from the white shroud, and I wasn't able to hang around long enough in the hope it would lift.

There were to be no horses thundering past the finishing post, although in the silent cocoon of fog, my mind was able to conjure up the sounds, the smell, the excitement that I remembered from a Newmarket race day I had attended a number of years ago. Today, the only horses I would see were those on daily exercise around the outside of the course.

Day 13 - August Challenge

Challenge - "A moody close up of galloping horse or horses preferably in (B&W) would be great! :-)"

Suggested by - Tony via blog

Today I was being wowed by thousands of horse-power, literally!

From 6 am Monday — Saturday, the heath at Warren Hill in Newmarket becomes the exercise ground for pretty much the whole of the equine population of this Suffolk town, as Newmarket is the home of horseracing.

On this glorious August morning, each yard rode their horses to the gallops in turn. The rhythmic snort and the thundering of the hooves, heralded the arrival of the next wave of racing machines which powered their way up the hill towards the sun, steadily rising from behind the trees. Following this burst of action, horse and lad leisurely made their way back down the hill, returning to the stables, where some were to hop onto the next horse awaiting exercise.

I got chatting to a young heathman, scouting the vast area for anything that might endanger the horses. He told me that currently the grass gallop is out of action as the recent dry spell caused it to be hard going, and a number of horses had suffered bone breakages. So, depending on weather, there are several gallops that can be used, although today, the action was focused on the all weather gallops. He also told me that a counter placed on just one of the gallops clocked over 1100 horses in one session. Quite incredible!
Trying to recall my dim and distant riding knowledge about three beat canter and four beat gallop gait, I was interested to discover that most of the exercise is in the form of a pacy canter, with galloping only actually allowed on two days of the week.

Sadly, Tuesday is not a gallop day! So, Tony, I hope that you will forgive me for the slight non-conformity in your challenge.

The grab shot

My thanks to:

Tony for the suggestion

Tomorrow, Day 14

"Quartz"