White Turf (and Beard)

What an amazing variety of activities we've had in St. Moritz: downhill skiing, shopping for chocolates, scenic train ride, and now, on Sunday, watching a horse race on a frozen lake!

We checked out of our hotel but left our car parked there and walked down to the lake. We arrived at the scene of the White Turf around 11:00 a.m., just before the first race began. Paparazzi were there to photograph any celebrities (including us) who were attending. There were lots of furs and fancy suits, even dressed-up dogs, but Brock was the only person I saw wearing a cowboy hat! The Europeans looked jealous.

We grabbed a program, but it was hard to decipher the statistics on the horses, so we opted not to bet.

There were fancy tables and chairs set up outside for diners.

A brief pose on this chair was the only sitting we did at this event.

We were able to watch some of the horses getting warmed up by their trainers prior to the race.

We walked to the edge of the track along with other spectators to watch the races. It was a very mild, warm winter day.

The trotting race was first, at 11:15 a.m. This horse and jockey were on their way to the starting gate.

The winning horse was brought to the stage with his owner and trainer for awards.

The horse was then paraded around the ring of spectators for all to admire!

Next was a jockey race. As the time got close, the crowd gathered along the track to watch.

This horse and jockey were running to the starting gate to warm up.

Brock took some beautiful slow motion videos of the races which showed all the snow getting kicked up by the horses.

We watched 3 races, then left to get some lunch and prepare to leave town. It timed out that we were able to return to our hotel in time to watch the Skijoring race from the hotel balcony!

We had a great view from up there!

I watched the skijoring race with binoculars while Brock filmed it. The last horse to be loaded into the starting gate (wearing red, white, and blue) was the eventual winner. They went around the track twice, and the winning horse took the lead near the very end! There were two horses that dumped their skiing jockeys at the starting gate; the jockeys took some spectacular spills while their horses ran in the lead, free at last!

We were delighted to have attended the White Turf - a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for us!

On the way out of town, we passed one horse who was also leaving town in a really nice, compact, lightweight trailer.

Our next destination is Gstaad, a 5 hour drive from St. Moritz.