Spain 2009 - Horse Races on Sanlucar Beach

Yes...just a little more about Spain

One of the highlights of my vacation was getting invited to the annual horse races on the beach in Sanlucar, the launching point of both Christopher Columbus and Magellan.

Not that I'm a racing fan, I much prefer jumping, polo and dressage,
but hey, any excuse to party on a beach on a hot summer's night...

Apparently it's an important local event with a long history.

From a Sanlucar website
Sanlúcar is also noted for its horse racing which dates back to 1845 and takes place along a 2,000 stretch of beach at the mouth of the Río Guadalquivir during the month of August, daily from 6.00 pm, on the 2nd and 4th weekends of the month (Thursday to Saturday). This is a thrilling spectacle where real racehorses thunder across the sand watched by a large noisy crowd of spectators.

There is nothing amateur about this event and you can expect to see spectator stands, bookmakers, paddocks and, of course, the winners´enclosure. Now an international event with horses from other European countries taking part and many famous names amongst the spectators. This is a serious competition, the total prize money amounts to millions of Euros. Most of the prize money is awarded during the last weekend.



So this race was watched by locals on the beach, invited guests in the stands and the rest of Spain on television.

The partying began in the afternoon with hors d'oeuvres and cocktails in the stands and the race started at sunset. Afterwards there was a party in the group of adjacent cabanas that went on all night long...

or so they told me because I couldn't make it much past midnight.

While I loved hanging our with my brother and Nieves Ferris, I really adored watching all the children at the event.

Every single one of them was dressed as though they had walked out of a Ralph Lauren ad.

Absolutely adorable.

And...it was my lucky night in because my 4 euro bet won me a handy 175 euros!!!

Ole!