A Day At The Races

This is the entrance to the paddock; when it's time for the race, they don't use track ponies, they just lead them to the gate and let the jockeys canter them to the start.

The paddock entrance, and the cooling down area, were by far the most interesting bit to me; out of professional and personal interest I like to see how they're handled, untacked, cooled out, mounted up, etc. You couldn't get into the area without an armband, so we had to observe from across the track. It was still fascinating, though.