Ostrich and Camel Races

Last Saturday, I went to Ellis Park raceway with Barry and Tyler. When I heard there was going to be Ostrich and Camel races, how ever could I turn it down? Of course, we stayed for four horse races, and I came out ahead by $1 for the day. I don't think I did too bad, and I had fun.

The exotic races were just for fun and lasted way less than a quarter mile around the track. The camels all came to a dead stop a few yards from the finish line, where they stood looking proud of themselves as the crowd 'Ahhh'ed and cheered. Above, you see them all taking a break BEFORE crossing the finsh, which is the white thing to the right. The jockey on #2 looks like he's falling off, but actually he was sliding back and forth, trying his dangdest to get his camel to move.

The Ostrich races were my favorite, and hilarious! They actually had jockeys riding these poor birds, but the cool thing was every rider had been thrown off by the time the birds got done crossing the finish line. When they were loading them back up into their transport, the Renegade Bird above escaped and ran back toward the starting gate. Then he stopped to stare into his crowd of admirers and I got the picture above. Next, his buddies saw what was going on and decided to go and join him. See the picture below. You couldn't hear any announcements by then, because everyone was laughing their asses off, including me. The ostriches stole a good fifteen minutes of showtime, pretty remarkable for the showoffs considering their 'race' only lasted about 10 seconds.