A Day At The Races

You may have noted a distinct lack of photos of late. Truth to tell I've been  pretty busy of late with Xmas holidays, first time I've had one in 10 years as well as an inordinate amount of tropical rain storms. We are experiencing a La Nina summer which means more rain more frequently.
We have had approx 4 days in the last month that were totally rain free, the rest of the time has been almost continual rain. Suffice to say the cameras haven't been out much of late.
We did however have fine and mostly sunny weather for the Pirongia Golf Club's annual race day. The Golf Club is also home to the Pirongia Harness Racing Club. The oldest in New Zealand dating back to 1866.
Once every year on Boxing Day they hold a racing carnival. I actually remembered to go this year and I'm glad I did. It makes for a nice day out.
The Following images are all taken from the HS20 Using either Hr ( Resolution Priority) Mode or DR ( Dynamic Range) Mode. In the latter the ISO is set to Auto 400.


Theres more here in the online album for those interested in viewing the Exif data as well.

Local media photographer hard at work.

Even the kids get to have a couple of races.
Handicapped start depending on horse and rider combo.

And they're off and racing although a couple look like they have other ideas.

And then of course its the Big Boys turn

And Big Girls too!

Now whats wrong with this picture?   Oh yeah I see :)

Then its time for the Fancy Pants brigade to do there stuff.

Crikey but they're fast.

And after a hard day at the track a brush down and shower is in order.