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Horse racing on the pool deck


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On our first and second cruises on the Voyager they had horse racing on the pool deck. There was a mat laid out for 6 horses, and your horse moved along the mat to the finish line by a roll of dice in a cage. You could pre wager which horse would win. At the end the horses were auctioned off to the highest bidder. Six horses were auctioned off. We bet 100.00 $ for our horse. You get to dress your horse up, you could take him to dinner in the main dining room, collect stuff from fellow passengers to attach to you horse etc. On the last sea day the six horses had their final race. Everyone at the pool could wager as many 2.00 $ bets as they wanted on the winner (no place or show bets). After the race was won the winning horse got the money that was collected at the auction for all 6 horses. Other betters collected winnings from the monies collected in the normal betting with a rake from Royal. This was a really cool thing at the pool. It topped the bellyflop , and sexiest man,or hairiest chest contest. Bring it back Royal

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4 minutes ago, Mawelch said:

On our first and second cruises on the Voyager they had horse racing on the pool deck. There was a mat laid out for 6 horses, and your horse moved along the mat to the finish line by a roll of dice in a cage. You could pre wager which horse would win. At the end the horses were auctioned off to the highest bidder. Six horses were auctioned off. We bet 100.00 $ for our horse. You get to dress your horse up, you could take him to dinner in the main dining room, collect stuff from fellow passengers to attach to you horse etc. On the last sea day the six horses had their final race. Everyone at the pool could wager as many 2.00 $ bets as they wanted on the winner (no place or show bets). After the race was won the winning horse got the money that was collected at the auction for all 6 horses. Other betters collected winnings from the monies collected in the normal betting with a rake from Royal. This was a really cool thing at the pool. It topped the bellyflop , and sexiest man,or hairiest chest contest. Bring it back Royal

When we took our very first sailing on Nav in 2004 they played the Horse Race game --- it was fabulous fun.  My DH has read that on a couple of longer cruises it has made a comeback.....IT SHOULD....it was so much fun! 

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13 minutes ago, Mawelch said:

On our first and second cruises on the Voyager they had horse racing on the pool deck. There was a mat laid out for 6 horses, and your horse moved along the mat to the finish line by a roll of dice in a cage. You could pre wager which horse would win. At the end the horses were auctioned off to the highest bidder. Six horses were auctioned off. We bet 100.00 $ for our horse. You get to dress your horse up, you could take him to dinner in the main dining room, collect stuff from fellow passengers to attach to you horse etc. On the last sea day the six horses had their final race. Everyone at the pool could wager as many 2.00 $ bets as they wanted on the winner (no place or show bets). After the race was won the winning horse got the money that was collected at the auction for all 6 horses. Other betters collected winnings from the monies collected in the normal betting with a rake from Royal. This was a really cool thing at the pool. It topped the bellyflop , and sexiest man,or hairiest chest contest. Bring it back Royal

Sounds like fun!👍

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In 1994, on the Sovereign, we had the pleasure of winning a bid for a horse. We decorated in matching outfits, like we were wearing. RCCL also allowed all owners to do a promotional video on what makes your horse special and how you were going to beat the competition! It played on the TV the day before. That was pretty cool. We came in last. Damn dice! lol! 

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12 minutes ago, bouhunter said:

Haven't seen that for probably 5-6 years.

 

Usually the "racers" were so drunk they could barely walk........:classic_tongue:

Never noticed that. We had our nephew jockey our horse

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1 hour ago, Mawelch said:

On our first and second cruises on the Voyager they had horse racing on the pool deck. There was a mat laid out for 6 horses, and your horse moved along the mat to the finish line by a roll of dice in a cage. You could pre wager which horse would win. At the end the horses were auctioned off to the highest bidder. Six horses were auctioned off. We bet 100.00 $ for our horse. You get to dress your horse up, you could take him to dinner in the main dining room, collect stuff from fellow passengers to attach to you horse etc. On the last sea day the six horses had their final race. Everyone at the pool could wager as many 2.00 $ bets as they wanted on the winner (no place or show bets). After the race was won the winning horse got the money that was collected at the auction for all 6 horses. Other betters collected winnings from the monies collected in the normal betting with a rake from Royal. This was a really cool thing at the pool. It topped the bellyflop , and sexiest man,or hairiest chest contest. Bring it back Royal

You are going back to the good old simple days. My remembrance was that each horse was named after an ethnic funny name.  Remember it well and when you won the bid on the horse you had to guard it so that it was not kidnapped, usually by acrew member.

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I loved the horse races! We bought a horse on one cruise and called it “ My Buc-n-horse” and decorated it with pirate beads and a Bucs flag.

During our race, I was in last place until the very end and then I won!! $450!!

Royal, please bring back the horse racing!

Edited by Buccaneergirl
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34 minutes ago, snowdogsmm said:

How large are these horses?  Sounds like a lot of fun!

They were made of wood and measured an estimate 3-3.5 feet high and 4 in length. 

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3 minutes ago, biomedbob said:

It was great fun.....but I have no idea why folks have to quote the first post.

 

 

Very simple explanation, many times threads are combined, so if you don't quote the post you are responding to, your comment could end losing all context.

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This topic caught my attention. I have never heard of this before.  It does sound like fun! I could see how it might be difficult on the largest ships.  But I would love to participate if I saw this on a cruise.

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4 hours ago, bouhunter said:

Haven't seen that for probably 5-6 years.

 

Usually the "racers" were so drunk they could barely walk........:classic_tongue:

Same her, not all them though most. First saw Horse Race on Royal 30+ yrs ago. Back then was Adult Cruise Ship, in 1988 at 23yrs I was 3rd youngest on whole ship, after 2- 18yr olds. First 10yrs I Cruised Royal had Skeet Shooting and Golfing off back of ship, many topless Woman on first 10yrs sailing Royal. Now Royal is a Family Cruise, but only Bare Breasts see now is Breast Feeding

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We have done this on a few cruises over the years, on RCI and other lines. A bit of fun.

 

The 'protocol' is that when you purchase the horse in the auction, it's yours until the completion of the 'big race' (normally last sea day). It works great as a group, especially if there's kids. You dress it up, and take it everywhere on board. I recall CD saying the only place you can't take the horses is off the ship as it doesn't have a sea-pass card.

 

Carrying it around the ship is a great conversation starter - you need to make sure you give yourself time to get to places, as everyone wants to know about the horse 🙂

 

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I loved the horse races on sea days! Mariner 2004 we cruised with another couple. The husband ended up bidding and winning two of the six horses. Needless to say, his wife was not thrilled at all with his purchases. So much so that they got into an argument in their cabin and she destroyed one of the horses and threw it into the hallway. The cabin steward had to euthanize the horse.  Luckily they had another horse in their stable to replace the broken horse. Now, come race day, his wife recovered from her outburst and was the jockey for one of the horses and my DW was the other jockey. One of his horses ended up winning and they netted around $400. 

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