Fun-filled Owners BBQ proves a great day

22/08/11

Hambleton Racing's Owners' summer barbeque has a long-standing reputation of providing owners with a great social day and Sunday's event didn't disappoint.

Sunday's owners barbeque had all the usual ingredients of a good day at Hambleton; a great morning on the gallops, good food and drink and the best company with some light hearted entertainment for owners to enjoy.

Sunshine and refreshments greeted owners on the gallops as owners were treated to complimentary drinks and warm sausages courtesy of the Hambleton Inn ahead of the action.

The assembled owners then watched on as the Hambleton string, who looked in fine condition, cantered past in the sunshine. On the way back down the gallops the Hambleton horses walked back past the gallery after their initial canter to ensure everyone got a really good look at their horses, and of course the chance to take a picture.

From the gallops owners headed into the yard to see their horses at closer quarters and catch up with Bogart, winner of the prestigious DBS Premier Yearling Sales race earlier in the week at York's Ebor meeting, who looked out proudly above his winning cheque.

After a good time in the yard owners and the Hambleton team retired around to the Hambleton Inn where the grounds of the pub had been hired for the day for everyone to enjoy.

With the sun shining everything was set fair for a great afternoon, which was to prove full of excitement and laughter on what was widely acclaimed as a really enjoyable day.

Owners were invited to take part in three-part quiz, the final part of which involved trying to decipher various tic-tac moves that Cosmo and Simon demonstrated and translate them to odds.

There were some interesting observations made as well known John McCirick moves such as 'ear hole', 'on the shoulders' and 'top of the head' were played out to much laughter and, in some cases, ridicule!

Whilst everyone tried to get to grips with some challenging questions a fine barbeque was served by Tracy which was very well received before the afternoon's entertainment - table football - commenced.

The standard of food was, as ever, of a fine quality, and, once digested, the afternoon sports began.

Traditionally table football comprises of a group of people hunched over a table trying to get their team to score a goal. The aim was the same but table football Hambleton style had a subtle difference - owners were invited to take the place of the actual players on the bars of the inflatable table.

 

 

The air-powered fun was Caroline's latest idea for fun and games on an exciting and fun-packed day. Contestants were encouraged to try out the day's sports and a large percentage did so to enable eight teams to be formed. 

With a tournament framed the teams then battled it out on the pitch in front of an expectant crowd. While silky skills were perhaps not evident an impressive level of commitment certainly was with one or two owners showing off a real competitive edge.

After some hard fought semi-finals the final resulted in minor controversy as the red team introduced a substitute midfielder, Hambleton's Racing Consultant Simon Turner.

In a largely even final the team on the blue bars, comprising of Simon, Mark, Peter and John, took the lead before the red team, Peter, Simon, Ray and star goalkeeper Robert produced a fight back to eventually prevail 5-1.

The result was allowed to stand despite the late substitute controversy and following the final both the winning and losing teams were presented with their prizes.

 

The presentation for the quiz was then made with a three-way tie decided by the tie-breaker question of how many more winners does Kevin need to train his 1000th winner - the answer being 28.

Last year's Summer Barbeque quiz winner Derek up held that form by filling second place but Mark and Klaudia, owners in Red Kestrel, just pipped him to the champagne first prize under the team name of 'Kestrelites'.

Owners then retired to the pub for further drinks as the dust settled on another highly enjoyable day at Hambleton.

The summer barbeque is now firmly established as one of our most enjoyable and popular events of the year and is a day the HR team get a lot of enjoyment from.

We'd like to thank all our owners who helped make Sunday such a fantastic day by getting involved with the fun and games we'd arranged.

As ever Caroline will be planning long ahead for the next barbeque.

We're already looking forward to it……!

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