ON DECEMBER 14, my mum, dad and I trotted over to Glebe's Harold Park Paceway for a spot of traditional Christmas camel racing. The Paceway, which usually plays host to harness racing, has been out of action for quite some time due to the dreaded equine flu, so the owners have been forced to improvise. With no Wise Men in sight, the riders were drawn from the crowd - mostly people celebrating birthdays or bucks' nights. After a considerable amount of growling, the proud ships of the desert would parade past the assembled masses (a few hundred) before turning and running about 250m. Betting wasn't allowed, which is probably just as well as one huge camel (No. 1) kept winning. Its reward? To have a harness attached to it (a world first, apparently) and be led all the way around the Miracle Mile twice! On the second circuit, it stopped about halfway. Fatigue? No, it was picking up FATHER CHRISTMAS! Once the jolly bloke made it round, he started handing out sweets to the kiddies...and then it got ugly. A drunk twat appeared out of nowhere and tried to steal Santa's sack! Following a short scuffle, it looked like security had the situation under control and they started to escort the twat towards the parking lot...BUT he escaped, jumped the short fence and legged it up the road! As I always say, you just can't beat a night out at the camel racing.
