What could be more enjoyable than a day at the races
in the sunshine of a Paris spring? The thunder of hooves, the roar of the
crowd, the flutter of torn up betting slips, and the sobs of grown adults as
they realize that they’ve backed the loser. Strangely, the winner’s name was so
obvious in retrospect. A day at the races costs a fortune doesn’t it? No it
doesn’t, especially when you’re in the capable hands of the Paname Gratuit
team.
To the south-west of Paris lie three racecourses,
l’Hippodrome d’Auteuil, l’Hippodrome de Saint-Cloud and the world-famous Hippodrome
de Longchamp, home of the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. Auteuil and Longchamp are
both are situated in the 16th arrondissement. Auteuil sits just
inside the périphérique and Longchamp is bordered by the Seine and the Bois de
Boulogne. The third, Saint-Cloud lies just the other side of the Seine.
To encourage the public to come along and learn how to
lose all their cash, they throw their doors open for free between the end of
March and the middle of May. As the open days are typically Sundays, the series
of events are billed as Les Dimanches au Galop and I was one of 11,000 who took
the opportunity one Sunday at Auteuil.
If you’ve never been to the races, I can thoroughly
recommend it. Go along with a group of friends or take the family for a great
afternoon out. You can walk around the course easily and at Les Dimanches au
Galop there’s loads of stuff for the kids to do, all for free. This has to be a
good thing, as normally as soon as you step out of doors with a couple of
rugrats in tow, at least €50 disappears from your wallet and that’s before
you’ve even thought about feeding the little monsters.
There’s even help on hand for first-timers. The lovely
Michelle provided a guide on how to read the form, what all those funny numbers
mean, and showed me how to place a bet. Of course, you will take all this
information in, regard the race card with the studied air of a seasoned
professional, and then do what you always do: chose your lucky number, a horse
you like the name of, or the jockey with the pretty colors.
A bet costs €2 and all are placed through the official
bookmaker, the PMU. There are no on-course bookies here but you don’t have to
bet to enjoy the crescendo of noise that greets the run-in of every race. You
can also check out the horses at close quarters in the parade ring. These are
truly magnificent animals.
In short a brilliant way to spend an afternoon. I’ll
be going again. There are three more meetings left on this spring’s schedule.
At Saint-Cloud on 1st May, Auteuil on 6th May and at Longchamp,
on 13th May.
@+
Hippodrome
d'Auteuil
route des
Lacs
75016 Paris
Métro : Porte
d'Auteuil (Line 10)
Hippodrome de
Longchamp
route des
Tribunes
75016 Paris
Tramway 2:
Suresnes Longchamp
Hippodrome de
Saint-Cloud
1 rue du Camp Canadien
92210 Saint-Cloud
Tramway 2:
Suresnes Longchamp
