The Queen's Place is one of South Africa's biggest race meetings. The theme for the day this year was blue and white as is was sponsored by Drakenstein Stud and their racing colours are also blue and white. The history of the race dates back to Queen Victoria and there were a few celebrities around but the best known to us was Prince Harry's ex-girlfriend Chelsy Davy.

The race day was very good with many people at the racecourse and lots of stands, tents and bars to keep the crowds entertained. It had been arranged to us to join the table of our farms vey Ian Heyns who we have now met on a number of occasions and is a close family friend. Ian had booked a table on the 4th floor which is very posh and had room for more people. Terry and Annabel were also on the 4th floor but in a different room as they had been invited to join another table and couldn't refuse as it was business. Ant's and Just were on the second floor or wandering around the grounds with their mates although we could go down and join them whenever we wanted.

Being on the 4th floor we were invited to walk to the beginning of one of the races to watch the horses being loaded into the gates and see the start of the race. It was a long race with the horses doing almost an entire circuit of the course so we didn't have far to walk. Watching this was really cool and a definite highlight for the day. Many people said the whole experience would be much louder than we expected but Sarah actually expected it to be louder than it was. She noted that all the jockeys were being extra polite and quiet with the crowds around and Terry later confirmed that they would normally be shouting and swearing at this point.

Once the races finished many of the tents alongside the course had music and one stage also had several live bands playing until quite late. Sarah and I spent the evening watching a particularly good band but as no one else is really into that type of music we left them drinking the various bars dry before heading home after a really good day.

Adam