Hi,
We are a parochial (sp?) school and we hold it at a local fire company. We are not allowed to serve beer on school grounds.
I am not involved in the planning/running of the Night at the Races because I am on the auction committee. But I do attend the Races so I will try to answer your questions.
The committee gets the tapes of horse races from somewhere. Sorry, that's of no help to you. Let me finish explaining and I'll get back to this. A projector and a screen is also borrowed from the school.
Ahead of time, the school "sells" horses. It costs $10/horse and whoever buys it names the horse. Purchasing a horse gets you free admission into the event. (must be 21 to attend) Some people buy more than 1 horse and let their children name the horse. Some people sell horses to friends and family that are not attending the race. If the horse wins the race, whoever "bought" the horse is considered the owner and receives $50. There is a smaller prize for 2nd place and even smaller one for 3rd.
Ads are sold for the program. Each race is listed in the program, with the names of the horses and their owners. Odds are also given for each horse. When you are at the Night at the Races, you look at each race and you are given time to bet on the race. I'd say maybe 10 or 15 min, offhand. There are people "working" the "windows" (trying to get a racetrack atmosphere) and people bet money and are given little slips of paper saying how much they bet and on which race. If you win/place/show, you win money according to how much you bet and what the odds were.
It is supposed to be like you are at a real race track. But instead of looking at real horses, you are looking at a film. After each race, there is time to collect the winnings and then bet on the new race. There are at least 10 races with 8 or 10 horses in each race. I don't really remember from last year. The races don't last long, maybe 1 minute or 2.
While this is going on, there is a table where people are selling instant bingo cards. There is another table where someone is selling raffle tickets for baskets that people have either donated or the woman put together based on student/family donations (all of that is covered under other topics of getting people to donate items for themed baskets, so I won't go into it here).
There is very light food. Last year it was pizza, hot dogs, wimpies (Sloppy Joes), chips, pretzels, and some desserts. People were asked to bring 2 liter bottles of soda this year. I have heard that other places (this is a big event near me and lots of organizations do this) people get together and bring other things to eat. For example, "I'll bring my fudge brownies, why don't you bring your seafood dip" and then people share.
From what I understand, there is hardly any cost to running this fundraiser so it nets a big profit. Our Night at the Races is this Saturday, so if you have any other specific questions, please try to ask before Sat night. When I get there, I will try to find out the answers to your questions and post the answers on Sun or Mon.
It should definitely be an adults-only event, as you want the adults to enjoy themselves as much as possible so that they bet more. That is how you raise money. Also, there needs to be quiet during the race, as people are cheering on their horses.
A horse owner does not need to be present to win the money if their horse wins. A check would be mailed to that person.
Hope this helps! Please try to post your questions or email me privately before Sat and I will try to get the answers for you. It is really a lot of fun!! My email is This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Chris
