The Hats of Sandy Lane Gold Cup

I had an extremely good time this last Saturday at what is known around here as the "Sandy Lane Gold Cup."  Sandy Lane is this really nice, 5 star hotel that sits on the west coast of the island.  (It is where Tiger Woods was married.)  So, the first two years of living here on the island - if I heard anyone talk about the Sandy Lane Gold Cup - I had differing ideas of what this was all about.  Usually entailing rich people and the west coast.  But, I didn't realize until it was too late last year - that this was actually a horse race.  And that it is raced at the Garrison which is right by where I live on the South Coast.

I went along with 6 other people to this race - and had a great time. Definitely going to be one of my top memories (other than Queen's Park on Christmas Day).  We decided to sit in the stands for this event - so that we could see the horses as they crossed the finish line.  So glad we made this decision - it was ecstatic/electrifying as those horses raced towards the finish line each time.  There were 10 races in total.  The 9th race was the "biggie" - the Sandy Lane Gold Cup!  Each race was rather short in time and then there would be about a 30 minute wait between that race and the next one.  (So that anyone that wanted to bet on the next race - had time to get their bet placed.)

But, it was just so much fun watching the people in between the races, that the time passed very quickly.  I got carried away with looking at the hats that everyone wore.

I like the ribbon and how it was tied into such a nice, elegent, long bow.

                    

Hey, the jockeys had to wear a hat, too.....

Nice strong hat with a very nice, stylish ribbon - on a guy by the way....

Nice hat...

I bet this guy likes Bob Marley...

Here you go.......

Back in Mississippi, my uncle wore one like this to fish in....

This is one of my friends - he wanted to get in on the picture taking by putting on his wife's hat...

Wait, what is this - flowers tucked into the hat?  Nice...

 Now, this guy was the announcer - I think he wins the prize!

Love the ribbon.  I want one of those hats....

Hum, I wonder where this one came from?

Even the little ones had their bonnets on...

Ok, this guy is totally deciding on who to bet on in the next race.  If his horse doesn't win, his hat would.

Pretty good...

This is fantastic - love the white ribbon around the white hat.

Very nice.

Hey bandannas can count, too.

Ok, this young lad just couldn't get it straight.

Love it...

Now how many people do you know have a pair of sunglasses to match their hat?

Love, love it.

Hat matches the shirt - cool!

Totally awesome.

Love the purple accessory.

Man, I didn't realize a hat could come in so many different colors/stripes.

Love them both - I've always wanted to wear a red hat.

You have to look closely here - but this is actually a very cool hat with the gorgeous accessories attached to the side.

Hat?  Who needs a hat when you have all these cute berets?

He was actually walking on stilts - and wearing that hat at the same time!

Barbados colors - blue and yellow - for the sun and sea.

Who says you have to wear the hat actually on the head?  Why not about a foot back of your head?

Nice...

Seriously?

I wish I could have gotten a better shot of this hat - very eloquent!