Fashion at the Races

I know my posts haven’t been as regular in the last couple of days but hopefully I can get them going again because I have so much to share with you! Last week I cleared 28 recyclable bags  (filled-till-bursting) and 2 boxes of clothings from my storage and had friends and family over the weekend to do some payment-less shopping! And as of today, I’m left with 6 bags which will be donated away. Winter-wear for the tsunami relief and casual clothes to either the Salvation Army or to another charity that may be holding a flea market to raise funds some time this month.

I have been superbly busy since I got back to Singapore about a week ago and one of my first exciting events after I touched down was to attend “Fashion At the Races” at the Singapore Turf Club!

I have never been to the Singapore Turf Club and it was pleasantly surprised at how huge and state-of-art the facilities are.  The girls and guy all came in their very best with fascinators, hats and lovely dresses. It reminded me of my days in Australia’s Melbourne Cup which captivates the entire nation and 80% of Australians would place bets for the races. One of the biggest events which rivals the race itself, is  ‘Fashions On The Field’ where men and women dress up in gorgeous outfits with the most interesting head pieces as they attend the races. Many Australians in and out of Melbourne would dress up and wear head pieces to celebrate the races at their local pubs and it was such a fun event. Although Singapore hasn’t gotten all bonkers with race fashion yet, I was absolutely thrilled to be able to re-capture that feeling when I was invited to “Fashion at the Races” at the Singapore Turf Club.

I wore a black lace and nude Valentino Red dress with a soft flower ribbon belt and modified an old Forever 21 hat as my head piece for the event. I had fun catching up and learning all about racing and betting together with some old familiar faces such as Sarah and Holly.

The Hibiscus room was perfect for viewing the races in a comfortable air-conditioned environment over food and drinks. You could see the entire stretch of the race circuit and most importantly, the finishing line! I had a tour around the different facilities as well and got to go up and close to view the jockeys and their prize-winning horses which was simply stunning!

Learning to bet was another absolutely interesting experience. I had no experience in horse race betting and even after the initial explanation of the different categories and types of betting, I pretty much stuck to the basics which was betting on the winning horse or placing (the horse coming in as either 1st, 2nd or 3rd).

We were given the race guide but I didn’t know what I was supposed to look out for and what the numbers meant so Holly Jean and I ended up choosing our bets based on our favorite jockey outfits for the initial races. But with a lot of guidance from the lovely people at the Turf Club, by the end of the night, I could understand what some of those numbers meant and how to strategically bet based on the odds. But of course, with any sort of gambling, in the end it all boils down to luck!

I’m sure you are all dying to know if I made a killing that day! Well, I did win overall but it wasn’t much. I’m much too conservative when it comes to gambling to win anything substantial but the thrill was just as powerful to watch my winning horse cross that finishing line, live in front of me!

If you like what I wore that day, please do vote for me at http://voteforme.turfclub.com.sg and you might stand to win a pair of tickets to the race club to experience the same wonderful experience I had!