Listowel - September 14TH

Killarney shops awaited us before leaving town, so after another filling breakfast we hit the shops before driving to Tralee.

Our timing could not have been better as upon arriving in Tralee and finding our hotel - The Imperial - we found out that the hotel that we were staying in had a bus leaving for the Listowel races in 15 minutes!

After a very quick check in to the hotel - which also meant we had to move the car and try and find somewhere to park the car in the hotel's car park - we managed to get ourselves onto the bus!

The trip to Listowel took just over half an hour and we arrived in the town. After a quick walk across the river, including witnessing several buskers and kids standing in the local river screaming out for punters to throw money to them which they catch in an umbrella - we found our way to the race track.

A good crowd was in attendance and we were ready to attack! I bought a local race book on the way in, which included a pen, so after studying the form, I had my first bet for the day. Off they jumped, and the horse I backed - Leatherwood- jumped to the front and kept going!! One bet, one winner, how easy was this I thought….

The next race, Nadeen picked the second horse and backed it each way, whilst in the third race, I backed another winner at the odds of 12 to 1, so I was on a roll - or at least I thought. The only problem was, that was the end of the flat races, and the next 4 races were over the jumps - ranging in distance from 3200 to 4800 metres!!! These races take over 6 minutes to run - amazing!

Anyway, after my early confidence, I was brought back to the pack - and how! The first hurdle race, I launched into the horse I fancied and it fell at the first hurdle!!!! As they say, the punt giveth, the punt taketh away…..In the next race, my horse also fell, so I was starting to think that this was going to be a long day. Luckily the last race was a flat race - a maiden race for 5, 6 or 7 year olds that have not won a race - over a distance of 4000 metres - just what you want for a get out stakes!!!

The day was very enjoyable and we caught the bus back to our hotel in Tralee. We had dinner at the pub and enjoyed a very good local pub meal with great service.

A memorable day at the races - similar to the Bool - however, here they race for 7 days in a row!!!! You would have to be really good to last the week here.