Remember I wrote excited to attend the Longines Singapore Gold Cup 2012? Well, here are the pictures from that day.
Traditionally, the Singapore Gold Cup Day is designated as an annual Charity Race Day. Since Longines took on the title sponsorship in 2010, Longines has continued to dedicate this event towards charity, raising funds for Chaoyang School, one of the social service programmes supported by Community Chest.
This time round I brought 2 guests with me. My uncle Tom, who is in Singapore for a long visit and reader turned friend, Michelle. I have been taking Uncle Tom and my Aunt Margaret around interesting attractions in Singapore and I believe that the Singapore Turf Club (especially on one of its’ big race days like this Longines Gold Cup) is definitely an interesting place to explore. Since Longines Gold Cup Race has always been associate with ladies race fashion and my Aunt Margaret would not be joining us, I’ve also brought along Michelle who loves dressing up and once lamented to me that there are very few occasions in Singapore that she can go for a glamourous day out.
We spent much of the day at the Marquee with food, free flow of champagne and lots of activities to keep us entertained in between the races.
There was a best dressed competition for the ladies and it was fun to see them cat walk around. These girls are fun loving and strutted themselves with confidence to win votes and support from the rest of the audience. Some of them even did a little dance!
The day was scorching so I was very grateful that the marquee we were in had air-conditioning and was cool. We didn’t want to miss out on the live actions of the races so every once in awhile, we’ll just head outside to catch a horse race before cooling off indoors again. Perfect combination!
There is never a dull moment. You could bet, auction for wines and other special Longines products, have your fill with the buffet or just drink and chill on a beautiful Sunday. Personally, Michelle, Jessie and I liked the photo booth with the crazy props so it explains the multitude of crazy pictures I have put up here. The quality isn’t too good because they are taken from the physical print out of the photos. Here’s a suggestion for the Singapore Turf Club: maybe STCcould give a USB thumb drive as part of their door gifts and folks could download their photos into the USB on top of physical print outs. I love the thrill of seeing the photos immediately but soft copies are the way to go if I would like to store these pictures forever. And such wonderful memories deserve to be stored forever.
As usual, I met quite a number of Turf Club regulars like Hong Peng and William but this time I didn’t have time to mingle much as I was busy entertaining both my Uncle Tom and Michelle. It was my guest’s first time at the Singapore Turf Club and they were super excited. I answered their questions the best I could realizing that I’ve accumulated so much knowledge through my various trips to the Singapore Turf Club.
Everyone was having such a good time! I had so much fun catching up with both family and friends 🙂
Uncle Tom loved being there so much, he swapped his hat for the Longines cap in support of the event. You’ll be seeing a lot of pictures of him in this post cause he kept bugging me to take more photos of him to show my aunt when he gets back. How sweet!
When the weather was a little cooler, Jessie brought us around to access the ‘VIP only’ areas such as the weighing room and celebration champagne room.
The jockeys are so small that even someone as petite as myself looks overwhelmingly big next to them!
Off we went to the new parade ring to inspect the horses before they run their race. Some people believe in looking at the spirit of the horse to determine the winner instead of basing on the guidebooks or odds. I supposed this theory is viable because just like us, horses have good days and bad days as well.
I will always remembered the first time I saw Singapore’s star horse, Rocket Man, in the parade ring about 2 years ago. Rocket Man wasn’t trotting around like how the other races horses do. He was only using 2 hoofs and sort of hopping around the ring like a rabbit while 2 handlers on each side of Rocket Man was fighting to control him. Rocket Man was wild and ready to race! It got me thinking as to how not all race horses are as pitiful as we think them to be. Some horses were born to race and love the thrill of the races as much as we love to win competitions.
We headed to the winner’s circle to catch the main race and were seated in the exclusive horse owners gallery. One of my readers once asked me why what does Longines, a watch brand, have to do with horses. Well, Longines’ passion for horses began with the manufacture of a pocket chronograph depicting a jockey and his mount, engraved by hand on the back of the case. Since 1881, Longines is committed to horseracing and its chronographs have been highly sought after by racegoers ever since. The brand today is official partner and timekeeper to numerous prestigious events around the world embracing horse racing, show jumping and endurance riding.
As the horses dashed nearer to the finishing line, the crowd stood up and roared with excitement. Each one calling out for the horse that they are supporting.
Everyone buzzed with excitement as Alan Munro aboard Better Life was the first to dash past the finishing line, joining the realms of local racing legends immortalised by their triumphs in the high profile race.
The Longines Saint-Imier Collection was also awarded to the winning jockey, Mr. Alan Munro, the horse-trainer, Mr. Takaoka and owner, Mrs. Kusumoto to recognize their merits.
It was an awesome Sunday and as a bonus, I even got to meet Bollywood and international star Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. She’s gorgeous in real life and is also Longines Ambassador of Elegance.
Thanks Jessie and the Singapore Turf Cub for the delightful day.