A Dummy's Guide: Singapore Turf Club

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Here's an unconventional date idea. Take her/him to the Singapore Turf Club.

For those without cars, you can take a train to Kranji and then board a Turf Club shuttle bus (you pay for admission at the same time) to the race course.

 In Western countries, the races is a chi-chi event where ladies wear pretty summer frocks & fancy hats.

 In Singapore, it's not quite our culture so while i tried to blend in, i didn't want to be OTT (over-the-top).

Fancy hats aren't really a norm in Singapore either, so instead of going to the shops to hunt one, we made one!

 Because it was the Queen Elizabeth's Cup we were attending, we made a hat suited to the theme.

Symbolizing freedom, this hat will be auctioned in July by Turf Club for charity.

Races happen every Friday evening and Sunday afternoon, that's when dates happen too right? Instead of a movie and dinner, why not try something new?

While i do not promote gambling, I think a visit to the Turf Club as an unconventional date idea is permissible. Because you may not have done it before, read up so you'll impress your date!

You don't have to dress up to the Turf Club, i did only because i was asked to and we were invited to one of its special events.

Singapore Turf Club organizes special nights for major races where members of the public can purchase tickets at $60/$80 to participate.

While it provides a buffet dinner, the food and variety is not comparable to a hotel's where you pay on average $48++ for a dinner buffet.

Do also note that while other alcohol is available, only beer and cocktails are inclusive.

Otherwise, you get an exclusive viewing, betting and dining area. You can also participate in their lucky draw and fringe activities like Best Dressed, Guess The Winner etc.

Crossing over to where majority of the public will be, it's a stark difference. Here, you can wear flip flop and tank tops for a casual date.

                          

Mostly a male audience, you find people smoking and litter everywhere.

For $7, you get to enter the Upper Grand Stand (seen in below picture, the level below the bright lights). It is air-conditioned.

Otherwise, you can pay $3 and enter the Lower Grand Stand (seen in above picture, the level below the upper grand stand).

Though it's non-conditioned, it's a good spot to be in the heat of the excitement when the race starts. You are also closer to the horses when they do a parade showing the shine and stealth of the horses before you place your bets.

Here're the minimum items you need to place a bet. Seasoned gamblers will need more program sheets i guess.

From the top: This provides past performances of all the horses running on the day's program. While you're likely to win betting on the No.1 horse, your winnings are also much lesser. You can bet on the least likely to win horse, the stroke of luck may bring you bigger winnings.

The minimum amount needed to place a bet is $5, i was given a voucher.

The red car park coupon looking sheet is where you shade in your bets like an MCQ test paper.

There you fill in the Race you want to bet (you can see from the TVs around which is the latest race and you can bet on the next race), and under the section "Pool", you can choose to either shade Win, Pla or W-P

What it means:

Bet Type	Your Chances of Winning	Explanation and Expectation
W-P	Very good	Your horse must finish 1st, 2nd, or 3rd; modest payoffs
Pla	Good	Your horse must finish 1st or 2nd; payoffs better than W-P
Win	Average	Your horse must finish 1st; payoff determined by the win odds

I put $5 for Win on Speedy Cat, on record it has always won first place. If Speedy Cat comes in first place, i would win erm, $2 based on the odds.

Alas, it was the underdog who at the eleventh hour took over! If i had put my bet on Pla, i would still have won something, and more than $2.

Horse racing is something that is over in a blink of an eye. All the excitement built up is over even quickly than a roller-coaster. There are 10 races each night, each race lasting lesser than probably a minute. However, it's a 20 minute wait in between races.

So a date at the races could be $50 (bets) + $6 (entrance for 2 to lower grand stand).

I never expect to see the tiniest men on these massive stealthy beasts though.

The jockeys need to weigh themselves before and after each race to ensure no cahoots (slowing themselves down with weights so that their partner-in-crime can win).

The unlikely horse that won the Queen Elizabeth cup? The horse owner took home $35,000 that night.

The winning pout.