Living in Iowa comes with many advantages. From the Iowa State Fair to the friendly people that you meet nearly everywhere you go. I've been to many a Rodeo but when Prairie Meadows began advertising their annual Camel, Ostrich and Zebra races I had to go. When I initially moved to Des Moines I remember my grandma telling me to let her know when those races were and she would come. It only took 4 years for me to figure it out.
I'm not a big fan of watching people run around a track, let alone animals but the idea of seeing running ostriches had me going. Pulling into the parking lot at the Casino I was overwhelmed by the number of people who were coming to watch these animals race. It was an interesting experience to say the least.
I had been warned beforehand that the event would be primarily composed of horse racing, with the other special races in between. I didn't quite expect it to be nearly every 3 races for one of the special animals tot go and for those three races to take so long. The races began at 1 pm and didn't end until about 4. I had never been around horse racing other than some rodeo nonsense that involved horses, let alone racing with people betting on the results. People were SO INTO THESE HORSES. How does one even know how to bet on horses? I would definitely choose the coolest name for my money. I was so pumped that there was a camel named "Camel Macchiato" that I was like TAKE MY MONEY but apparently you can't bet on specialty races? Lame. I was so pumped about watching the camels that I don't even remember the winner but I do know that the person who chose the names for the camels is one cool person that I want to be my friend.
The camels ran a good race. With four camels running on a sloppy track it was interesting to watch how they did their thing with such difficult conditions. The horses looked like they were having a tough time running or cantering around the track. I can't imagine myself trying to walk on that track with how soggy it was.
While the horses ran, I wasn't as excited about them as I was the ostriches which were the main event. We had to wait six races for the ostriches and those ostriches were a solid choice for a main event.
The magic of the ostriches was so incredible and completely worth the afternoon of horse races. When those ostriches came out of the gate they were not having it. They were knocking their jockeys off right and left and just ran like crazy into the trailer that they were driven into. It was hilarious. My biggest question of the whole situation was how one becomes a jockey for ostrich races? Do you fail horse jockey school or do you specifically decide to be an ostrich jockey.
The races were an exciting event that I'm so glad that I got to go to. They were unique and I sat there thinking "only in Iowa." Until next year!
