£5 on Humpday Treat for the win

All my friends and family are constantly amazed by all the incredible things I get through my job. My salary is great, our offices rival Google's and a couple of weeks ago we got free Drake tickets. Well the benefits just keep on coming as this week, I was treated to a day at the races in a hospitality box!

When shopping for a race day outfit, I had very specific requirements for what I wanted. I wanted a midi length, long-ish sleeve, bardot style, crochet fabric (because I always think it's nice quality), print (because colour blocks don't look as good with shoes/bag) and bright colours (because I wanted something summery but pastels aren't my thing). Well, I obviously had a job and a half finding what I wanted. For these crochet, bardot, midi styles, Paper Dolls is quite clearly the place to go. They have them in every colour and print under the sun but they're about £80 each and I didn't want to pay that much. I'd had my eye on this one for a while and noticed it was on ASOS on sale for £31, but it was sold out. Well, two failed dresses later (too big, too modest, not enough sleeve-age), I checked ASOS again and they had ONE back in stock and it was my size! The universe was clearly on my side. So I got the exact dress I wanted, for a total bargain and was able to easily match it with white mule shoes, white stressed-but-well-dressed clutch bag and white fascinator (charity shop bargain). It's very handy having this insta-perfect spot in our building, but it maybe wasn't perfect with this dress as I pretty much blended in.

So after doing a few hours of my day job in a seriously overdressed fashion, me and my colleague Philippa headed to Nottingham Race Course at lunch time, where we were greeted at the hospitality box with a prosecco reception. The hospitality was lovely - we had a great view of the track from our box as we were positioned right at the finish line, we had free-flowing drinks (which I'm sure you know I made the most of) and a two course buffet lunch which was really nice.

After seeing a lot of outrage about horse racing since the Grand National (and a lot of outrage about those who are outraged while not being vegan), I wasn't sure how to feel about horse racing as a sport. I've come to the conclusion that it's on the same wavelength as circuses and zoos and I therefore don't agree with it (the horses eyes looked sad). But unfortunately (sorry don't hate me), my own selfishness usually trumps my morals and if I have the opportunity for a nice day out with free drinks all day, I'm not going to turn that down. I wish I was a better person but I'm not. Besides, as horse racing goes, the Nottingham course is pretty good because it's all flat, which means the horses are not in danger of falling or tripping and eventually getting shot because of injuries. All the horses that were entered made it safely to the finish line! Unluckily for me, the first horse I bet on crossed it third to last. We'd had a tipster in to tell us the tricks of the trade and the people we were with had tried to educate me on the ground density and the size of the horses' rear end, and my boss had sent through a few tips. However, I still picked based on which name I liked best (as I think most people do). In fact, the time I went with a tip rather than my gut, that was the one that lost! And having just lost, I didn't go back out in the deceptively cold weather (looks sunny and beautiful right?) to place a bet on the next one. I pegged Love So Deep to win but didn't actually have money on it and my god do I wish I did; the horse won at odds of 16/1! So next time I go to the races, I'm doing it all on instinct. Although the last bet I placed went without saying. My boss owns a few racehorses and one of his was competing so obviously we all backed it to win. And it did! So although I missed out on the previous race, I still came home a winner with more money than I'd gone with. We also got to go into the dressage circle and congratulate Mayfair Spirit and his jockey, and then celebrated with champagne afterwards. All in all it was an amazing day and in line with my morals or not, I'm excited to return with my whole company for Vintage Day later this month!