Aintree Racecourse

With the 2013 Grand National only a few months away I decided it was time to get myself to Aintree and check out some of the runners in the Becher Chase. The race is a well known test for horses considering a run in the National, and this years field included past Grand National winner ‘Ballabriggs’ and also the pre race favourite for 2013 ‘Join Together’.

The race itself was a fairly competitive affair and ‘Join Together’ lived up to the hype by finishing a credible second behind Aintree veteran ‘Hello Bud’ ridden by Sam Twiston-Davies. At 14 years old Hello Bud didn’t have many backers on the day and the bookies loved the result. In fact it’s not often that a winning horse is only 6 years younger than the jockey!

Aintree was looking superb and I had a fantastic day out, it was just a shame that the crowd was a little on the light side. Maybe it was the recent terrible weather or the meetings proximity to Christmas? Whatever the reason for the small crowd those who did make the trip got their monies worth. The days racing also gave me the chance to try out my new Samsung NX1000 camera, this little wonder is a tiny camera with interchangeable lenses. It others the flexibility of a DLSR in the size of a compact camera, perfect for a day out at the races.

If you’ve ever carried around a big DSLR around for a whole day then you’ll know how annoying it can become, the NX1000 bridges that gap between small compacts and semi-pro DSLRs. It handled ever situation perfectly and I can see it becoming a great second camera for me. I’ve included some of the photos of Aintree above – see what you think?

Who knows, one day I might be in the winners enclosure myself – owning a racehorse who could win the Grand National would be a dream come true.