Picnic horse racing
Encyclopedia
Colloquialism
A colloquialism is a word or phrase that is common in everyday, unconstrained conversation rather than in formal speech, academic writing, or paralinguistics. Dictionaries often display colloquial words and phrases with the abbreviation colloq. as an identifier...
"the picnics" refer to amateur Thoroughbred
Thoroughbred
The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word thoroughbred is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed...
horse racing meetings, predominantly in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. The meetings are organized by amateur clubs, the jockeys are amateur riders, or sometimes former professional jockeys. The horses competing are generally of a standard insufficient to be competitive at professional meetings. They are often trained by hobby trainers.
The meetings are more of a social occasion and are often held on Public Holidays, or on days when major metropolitan races such as the Melbourne Cup
Melbourne Cup
The Melbourne Cup is Australia's major Thoroughbred horse race. Marketed as "the race that stops a nation", it is a 3,200 metre race for three-year-olds and over. It is the richest "two-mile" handicap in the world, and one of the richest turf races...
are held.
Oakbank, South Australia
Oakbank, South Australia
Oakbank is a town in the Adelaide Hills, east of Adelaide in South Australia. It is in the Adelaide Hills Council area. At the 2006 census, Oakbank had a population of 473.The town was founded in about 1840 by Scottish brothers James and Andrew Johnston...
holds the world’s largest picnic racing carnival during the Easter weekend.