Taking Chances

I am thrilled to report that today I made my first bet on a horse. Since I moved to Dublin, I noticed and slowly learned about these bet-maker places around town. They're all over the city centre, really. I had never been inside one until today. I met up with Janelle and Paul to look for bicycles and on Camden Street Paul suggested we go into Paddy Power to make bets for the Grand National. The web site says "The Grand National is England's most prestigious horse race and one of the worlds greatest sporting spectacles. Each year 40 horses line-up to tackle the awesome Aintree course. Four & half miles, with 30 fences, the National is arguably the toughest test of horse and jockey in the world." I just went in out of curiosity, but soon my friends had talked me into a €2 bet. I chose Big Fella Thanks, the #14 horse, whose odds were 20 to 1 for the win. I didn't even know what it meant until Paul walked me through it. My bet made the race really fun to watch and it was exciting even being in the bet-makers shop. Sadly, I lost. But the horse that won, Mon Mome, was a shocker with odds of 100-1!! Very exciting stuff.