A day at the Races (Maths trip allegedly!)
Summary of the day by violet williams
Year 7 went on a trip on Tuesday to Worcester Racecourse with the Maths Department. We arrived at 9:30 and went to a room full of notebooks and jockey uniform to wear. It was a day of maths and everyone enjoyed it.
We started in the weighing room where the Jockey’s would get weighed before and after the race, here we learned about the types of measures including metric and imperial units which they still use to weigh the jockeys.
There are two different types of racing, Flat and Jumping and we were told about the different weight requirements for each type of race and sometimes how the weight needs to be changed depending on the age of the horse and the gender of it.
The second lesson was about more types of measures including metric and how many horses could fit into the warmup arena before the race. Everyone made estimations and then would calculate the real size; everyone being not far off.
After, we all had a quick snack break and then moved onto our next session which is when we saw all the horses arrive, here they were checked over by the vet and put into the stable to wait for their race and to have a rest, drink and food. We had to stay very quiet and still so as not to spook the horses.
We also had a look at the different types of jumps around the course. At the end of the day we learned about the ‘Race Card’ which told us everything about the owners, jockey’s and the horses e.g. how old they were and information about their previous races. We had to choose a horse and then managed to get to see them as they were warmed up and then actually did the race.
Overall, the event was very successful, and everyone would love to go again.
