[Singapore’s Travel Blogger] Exclusive Behind the Scenes Tour of the Singapore Turf Club

Last week, I had the privilege to be invited on an exclusive behind the scenes tour of the Singapore Turf Club at Kranji where I was given an insight of how race horses are taken care of in Singapore.

For someone who is a fan of the National Geographic channel, this is a real big deal for me. (I love animals!)

The exclusive tour started off pretty early at 9.30am.

This is the grandstand where people watch the racing action from.The first stop that we made was to the vet. Dr Dan Shaw, the veterinarian at the Singapore Turf Club showed us around the place.

The first thing we saw when we walked into this vet (or the horse clinic) was a horse doing acupuncture. Apparently, acupuncture helps promote blood circulation and therefore, allows the horses to heal faster from injuries.I’ve placed a white circle around the needle on the horse’s head so that you can spot the needle. In case you are wondering, they do have a certified TCM practitioner at the Singapore Turf Club. Interesting right? 🙂Many other needles administered on the horse.Shortly after, we had an opportunity to see how horses undergo X-ray. This horse is really well-behaved. The vets sit at the room outside to analyse the results of the X-ray test.Here’s the scan report. Thereafter, a scope was done on another horse, a black one this time.In case you are wondering, this is the wall of the throat. Since it is all clear, it means that the horse is all good and healthy.Next up, we had this extremely rare opportunity to catch a glimpse of a horse’s surgery. We got our shoes covered to ensure the cleanliness of the operation room.Honestly, I got a shock when I saw this. Little did I know that this is how they perform a surgery on a horse. Thumbs up to these dedicated vets! 🙂

Next, we rode on a buggy to the tracks where the morning trial runs are held.

The horses simply dashed out so fast that when I managed to react and pressed my shutter, they were already pretty far away. After watching the trial runs, we arrived at the new equine pool where the horses clean themselves. They can also swim in this 3-metre deep pool.
Our last stop at the Singapore Turf Club was the horse stables! Lawrence was there to show us around the place. Apparently, they have two different kinds of stables: air-conditioned and non air-conditioned.

Horse riding related gears are neatly arranged.

This is the non air-conditioned stable.

Once you step into the stable, the situation gets slightly sticky where all the horses just started popping their heads out to check out who has arrived.

Look at all their curious faces.
In particular, this horse looks like it either wants a walk or a pet. 🙂

Blogger Hong Peng took a selfie with the horse.Managed to grab this photo with the horse. (Just realised that we have the same fringe parting!)
The trip to the horse stable concludes the behind the scenes tour at the Singapore Turf Club. It was amazing to see the amount of manpower involved in the managing the entire Turf Club, the jockeys and the race horses. The horses here are really blessed to be in the hands of the experts.

Thank you Jessie and Dominic from the Singapore Turf Club for this exclusive invitation! ❤

(Click here for my blog post on the Longines Singapore Gold Cup 2014 at the Turf Club.)

+   +   +   +  +   +   +   +   +   +

P.S.: I will be away in China for one whole month from this weekend! Feel free to drop me an email at tina.jingting@gmail.com if you have any queries or for event invitations!