President's Guard at the Gran Pellegrini

The Gran Pellegrini is the biggest horse race in South America.  To cut to the chase, Expressive Halo won. 

How did I end up there?  Well, I attended a reception at the Ambassador's Residence (actually had to fill in as the host temporarily) for the Harvard Club in honor of the 375th anniversary of Harvard University.  One of the guests, Alberto Stein, owns a farm called La Leyenda, and he invited me and a friend to lunch at the Jockey Club at the San Isidro Race Track (about 30 minutes outside of the city of Buenos Aires).  The Hippodromo San Isidro hosts the Gran Pellegrini every year.  We were there by 1:30, had a nice lunch and then watched 15 races throughout the afternoon, building to the Pellegrini.  It was very exciting  - you can see the race if you watch this.

The best part was all of the people that were there, and getting to go out on the track to the winner's circle.  We even saw the gold colored chair where they weigh the jockeys before the race. I was surrounded by people who LIVE and breathe horses, so I had the chance to learn from insiders about the sport. It was one of those "the Foreign Service isn't so bad moments."  Definitely perks in my job.