Not much to say on a very windy, blustery, rainy Sunday with the odd periods of sun shining through. We drove to Listowel for the day for horse racing at a top tier Irish track. The Listowel Races run just twice a year – two days in June and then a week long festival in September., Today was Ladies Day with prizes for the best dressed ladies. With the weather being what it was, one might have expected few entrants. But the Irish woman shrugged off wind and rain and coolness, and there were plenty of nattily attired entrants about. And most of them would have looked very good at the Kentucky Derby. There are pictures of the winner and lots of entrants on the Listowel Facebook Page.
We got to Listowel at about 11:45 and decided to have lunch in town before venturing to the track. We ate at the Horseshoe Bar on Main Street, a venue we have been to before. Elaine had a chicken wrap with chips and I had the special steak burger with chips. Good food.
The day at the races was uneventful. Good races. A beer at the bar. And no winners. Gambling wise, it has been an unsuccessful trip. Thank goodness there wasn’t much gambling. (We never even made a bet when we were in Las Vegas on the first day of the trip.)
Click on the galleries below to bring up scrollable windows with full size pictures – the gallery previews show just thumbnails of the pictures
Gallery One
In the Bar before the Crowds 
The Paddock Walking Ring 
The Walking Ring from Above 
Sun Shines on the Bookies 
Gallery Two
Candidates for Best Dressed
Gallery Three
The Track 
The Ring Again 
Bundled for the Elements
It was home again well in time for dinner at the house. We are emptying the fridge for our Thursday departure, so we just had crackers, cheese (from the Little Cheese Shop), and smoked salmon paté (from the fish market).
Fun pix at the track. I suppose the Irish would never give upo a chance to dress up, particularly as Ive learned that if you don’t like the weather, it changes so many times a day. But it looked chilly for me!! Fun times at all those pubs. Does Elaine miss the sun yet? Been so cool in May that the pools are pretty chilly still, incredible as I write this on June 3rd!! Countdown time for you!! Safe travels.
Hey, all the “best dressed “are wearing fascinators – fascinating! Joe, you are not even in the running with a Scally cap and a rain hood. Sorry no winners, but looks like a good time.
Horse racing in Ireland, do they run on grass
Or do they run on the dirt track as here in the US?
And do they run clockwise or counter clockwise?
We’d love to have you here and visit Arlington Park… from our house it’s what 20 minutes
On grass only and clockwise at most tracks but counterclockwise at some.
Watch out, Joe. GQ may want to copyright that “bundled up” look!!
Here it is June 4th and temps here are still in the 40’s in the mornings and evenings. Lucky if we hit 50 during the day.