olive_oil

I like attending horse races and we don't have pari-mutuel wagering where I live.

I was happy to learn that there is racing in Montreal at the Hippodrome de Montreal--it looks like it is held almost year-round.

The website for the Hippodrome is French-only. Do you know any comprehensive resources for English language info on racing in Montreal?

Which raises another question: if it is difficult for me to find info in English, should I infer that Anglophones are not welcome?

Any thoughts?

olive_oil

no racing fans out there?

ron

It is really surprising that the website is French only; even if they don't care to cater to the half million or so anglophones in Montreal (all of whom could likely place a bet in French), you would think they would want to attract tourists.

The Hippodrome is what used to be the historic Blue Bonnets Raceway, founded by Anglophones and certainly welcoming to anglophone betters during its long history. I would like to think it still is, but who knows?

NorthwestMale

Hi there!

When I went to the races at Hippodrome de Montreal, there really was NOT any cause for fear regarding the language barrier.

The contrasts between there and Hippodrome de Quebec are like night and day. In QC I was lucky that I knew enough to translate normal racing jargon into french ~ even without first knowing a word of french. A highlight of the track in QC was finding a girl/college student selling programs who was quite thrilled to have someone with whom she could practice conversational english.

In Montreal there are enough english speakers at the track that the announcer (used to, anyway) announce half the race in french and half the race in english.

When I was there, sitting in the clubhouse, a woman would sing in between races, on a small stage, with tunes belted out and audible throughout the enclosed grandstand ~ one song in english followed by one in french.

You just won't have enough trouble making your way through the day to fear the language. The racing info is mostly numerical and quite similar to what you might know from elsewhere.

The conclusion you should draw is that you needn't worry about it.

(I'm NOT suggesting that there won't be one random usher, ticket-seller, garbage sweeper who simply doesn't speak english... so don't hold that random discovery against me)

The track is quite near to downtown and is a fun little experience.

You're good to go...

NorthwestMale

Here are the race dates for the rest of 2007:

http://www.standardbredcanada.ca/ent...ata/xrhms.html


and you could always use "Babelfish" to translate the web page to english:

world.altavista.com


then put the hippodrome website

into the indicated area:

http://www.hdem.com/hm/

THEN open the menu and click on "French to English"...


true the translation isn't perfect, but you can get context clues to fill in the blanks.


Lastly, when touring Montreal, notice the "Hippo Club" (off track betting places) in various neighborhoods. Maybe you might find more info there.


Hope this helps.


At any rate, you don't have too much cause for concern.

olive_oil

Thank you Ron and NWMale. I agree, I think it is completely bizarre that I can find so little info in English. And what I do find in one place often conflicts with what I find elsewhere.

In frustration I went to the contacts page and sent an email to the guy at the top of the list. I received this strange reply:

"Thanks for your interest in our facilities. We will get back to you shortly.


Sénateur Paul J. Massicotte

Sénat du Canada / Senate of Canada:
613-943-8110
[email protected]"

Look at the signature--it's from a senator!! Curiouser and curiouser...

I don't think I'll wait for the senator--I'm sure he has better things to do--I'll try the tourist board.

Thanks again for your input. And that Babelfish site--wow, I'd never seen that before.

If I win I'll let yall know.