del mar horse racing.

guess what we did? we went to the horse races on wednesday! 

we went for "free and easy wednesday's". we parked forever away so that we didn't have to pay for parking. we walked to the 'military' entrance only to find out that military (and their dependents!) get in for free every day! that is good to know. if it were up to me, we'd go to the races errday. 

before the races begin, they show the horses in this little arena. that way you can size up the competitors and pick out the under dog you want to root for, or the tall and lean champion you assume will win. 

some of the horses appeared very calm, but others were jumpy and fidgety-eager for the race. 

 unfortunately, we got there later than anticipated and missed most of the races for the day. we only made it in time to watch two of them! that's okay though, we made it worth it and had a good time soaking up the atmosphere. 

for the first race, jon and I both bet two dollars on two different horses. we said that they would either get first, second, or third (this is called a "show"). we knew that we were already crossing the line betting our hard earned money, so we thought we'd better play it safe...

I lost my two dollars, but jon's horse took third! he won......$4.20!! 

 the second race was a good one as well. jon bet two dollars that two different horses would show. and i did the same with two others. so we had put $8 on this race. jon's horses took last and second to last...and one of mine got first place! it was so awesome to see him go from fourth all the way up to first and stick his nose across the finish line. we watched this race trackside(i think it is called the stretch). we couldn't see them run the entire race, but it was awesome to hear twelve horses come stampeding to the finish line right in front of you!

here are the horses walking it out after the last race.
they were really close to us! 

the horses are so pretty! very slender and muscular.

here's the horse that won me $6.40! 

i assume he was feeling pretty good about himself at this point. 

 it was such a fun day! next time we will make sure to get there earlier so we can see more races, and maybe we'll get a little daring with our cash...not tooo daring though...
we ended up losing a total of $1.40. so it was pretty much a one and a half dollar date! i'll take it. 

 before jon took my photo, i piled him up with all of my belongings. ha!