I noticed on my Tallinn map that there's a race track in the west part of the city, within walking distance from the old town. I have recently gotten into horse racing and have spent much time over the last few years trying to understand handicapping and analyzing race forms. There's a brain teaser/mindtrap quality to it for me, that is to say that the part of me that loves brain teasers, seem to like trying to predict which horse will come in first. It fascinates me. A second reason I head to the track is people watching. You see the most interesting characters at the track - some make you feel sad, some others happy, silly, etc...
Over the last few years in Ottawa, I did spend a few Sunday nights at the Ottawa Rideau Race Track and enjoyed myself on more than a few occasions, even when I lost money on the night. At Rideau, they race Standardbreds only (the ones with the little buggies, see above picture) and the race forms are not too complicated (i.e. there are less factors to take into account). In Toronto, it's Woodbine Racetrack where they race both standardbreds and thoroughbreds (no little buggies). Handicapping thoroughbreds is a lot more complicated and the standardbreds (much like the difference between the weekly TV guide crossword puzzle and the Sunday New York Times crossword puzzle). Handicapping a race is another blog entry for another day, but if you're a tad curious - here's some info on it:
http://www.nycotb.com/viewPage.cfm?pageId=11
The Tallinn race track is called the Hipodroom. It is smaller than most as one would expect in a city of this size, and they only race on Saturday afternoons beginning at 1:30 PM. The language is Estonian with the betting windows and the raceform. I found it a bit tricky to read but soon figured it out enough to lose about 150 Kroons (about $15 Cdn.) on the day. There were many parents with small children in the stands which did not make much sense to me. Why would you take a five year old to the track? Then I realized many were single parents and I wondered if their husbands / wives work at the track and they are just waiting for them (i.e. jockeys, betting windows, etc...). Anyways, it was and still is a bit of a mystery to me.
The other group were the typical betters. Here, they are mostly Russian although there were a few Estonians but the majority were definitely Russian. I guess Estonians are not betters... I wonder if I head into one of the casinos, will I see mostly Russians, too? These Russians at the track were characters alright. The hats, clothes, the way they spoke, even the shoes - just made me smile. I like characters - they help bring colour to this sometimes dreary world. I wish we had more characters in other parts of our daily lives - like when you are renewing your drivers license or at the bakery or just in the mall. Yes, we definitely need more characters in the mall - too many mall residents are dressing and acting alike in their Gap-bought clothes and Nike sneakers, drinking their Starbucks latte - but that is, once again, another blog for yet another day. Perhaps, ten blogs...
The jockeys and horses were, as you would expect, from Estonia, Sweden, Finland and Russia. In the centre of the oval track was a soccer field and a rugby pitch. It looks like a multi functional facility. Love to see all three sports played at the same time - I think I would spend money to see that.
http://www.hipodroom.ee/
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