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Because of what I have perceived as an increased interest in residencies, I have undertaken a trip around the world to check out the home turf of some of the Sims top places to join with your stables. The trip is being sponsored by those lovely ladies at the BTB as they realize how much our readers will enjoy this inside look.<\/p>\n
I am back in Europe this week for a smaller but active rez, the Benelux Residency. Most of the residency members actually live in the home town of the residency and I don\u2019t think that most residencies can make that claim. So I took a plane from New York to Brussels, Belgium and then hopped a train for the 45 minute ride to lovely Ostende, Belgium. This is a beautiful resort and fishing town on the North Coast of a little less than 100,000 friendly folks. <\/p>\n
When you get off of the train, your attention is immediately captured by the twin towers of the Saint Peter and Saint Paul’s church. This neo-gothic church is more than one hundred years old and the architecture and building are really stunning. It is like going back in time when you come here and it is really charming. There is a fort built by Napolean in the early 1800\u2019s that was built with nearly nine million bricks and housed nearly 300 soldiers and 46 canons. This is all surrounded by beautiful beaches and parks throughout the city. <\/p>\n
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I was told that a stroll alongside the ‘Visserskaai’ is really a must. When coming from the railway station in the direction of the beach, one can first of all see the fisher-boats that wait here before their next trip begins. There is a large fisher harbor in Oostende. The most important part is the ‘Fish-mine’, a large fish market, where early in the morning the fresh North-Sea fish is sold to the fish retailers. They sell the fish on to the restaurants all over Belgium. The Oostende fishermen fish on the North Sea, as far as the waters around Iceland. It seems that everywhere you look there are fish stands with ultra fresh species that await patrons to take them home.<\/p>\n
I grabbed a cab and he took me through the city and out to the Hippodrome Wellington which is not only the Horse Race track here but also the beautiful headquarters for the Benelux Residency. As we pulled up to the race track I was once again taken but the beautiful architecture and attention to detail that radiates everywhere you look. That certainly includes the main building at the track that houses the residency. It is a sweeping white building with so many windows that you think you can see right through it. And it is topped with what looks to be a gold crown. Certainly interesting!<\/p>\n
I was met in the impressive foyer by Wellington, who is the reporter for the Benelux Residency. He took me on a short tour of the beautiful facilities and as we made our way to their private dining room.Along the way, he told me a bit more about the residency. I must admit, I was charmed by his Belgian accent. <\/p>\n
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Wellington<\/font><\/b> \u201cWe are so happy that you come here to Ostende and our little residency. The name of the residency, Benelux comes from the three countries that we hail from\u2026 Belgium – Netherlands \u2013 Luxembourg. We are all living in the Benelux region so it makes sense. The most of us are living in Belgium in a town called Ostende, so that means that in the Sim our hometrack is Ostend. I think we are the smallest residency of the Sim but we are very friendly with each other. <\/p>\n As we sat down in the comfortable dining room he explained to me, Wellington<\/font><\/b> We have read in other articles that you enjoy local foods so we had to decide from some local favorites. We thought about one of our typical Belgian fish dishes like: ‘Sole \u00e0 l’Ostendaise’ (sole with a white wine sauce and shrimps) or ‘Tomate Crevette’ (a tomato filled with shrimps). But in the end we decided on one of my favorites, ‘Paling in ‘t groen’ (eel in green sauce prepared with parsil, spinach and other green herbs). <\/p>\n They brought the exceedingly green dish out along with crusty Belgian bread and an incredible Belgian Flemish red beer. The eel dish was really fantastic with an incredible earthiness and herb flavor throughout. It was even better with the great brew.<\/p>\n Wellington<\/font><\/b>-told me about the beer. “Belgian beer comprises the most varied and numerous collection of high-quality beers in the world, and varies from the popular pale lager to the esoteric appeal of lambic beer and Flemish red. Belgian beer-brewing’s origins go back to the Middle Ages, when monasteries began producing beers. There are approximately 125 breweries in the country, producing about 500 standard beers. When special one-off beers are included, the total number of brands of Belgian beer exceeds 1000. If every one is like this, I would love to try them all!<\/p>\n PazJazz<\/font><\/b> You mentioned that most of your members live here in Ostend? Can you tell me a bit about the track here with your headquarters?<\/p>\n Wellington<\/font><\/b>– Ostend racetrack already exist from 1883 and they give it the name \u201cHippodrome Wellington\u201d. The racecourse have been named after the Duke of Wellington who was one of the first ever sponsors who giving 2,500 Belgian Francs for one of the races and that was big money on openings day of Wellington on the 29th, 1883. Ostende has long been suffering to preserve his beauty as well as Wellington racecourse which has also had a lot of excruciations. Yet, throughout its troubled existence, never has his heart stopped beating. That’s why this racecourse , although being a venerable old fellow, it is still alive and its vital strength is mirrored in the turf which is so green and tender that you can even think of eating it. Wellington racecourse is a right-handed turfcourse 2.200m with a strech of 1.000 meter. There is only 2 months racing a year and that is in the summer months July and August. The big day has always been the 21st of July, that day has always been interested by international trainers and owners because of the grade I race called \u201cGRAND PRIX PRINCE ROSE\u201d with more than $ 100,000 for the winner. The best trainers of Europe from England to France are so hungry to win the Prix Prince Rose. Jockey’s like W Carson, W Swinburn and others come here and trainers like J Dunlop, M Stoute, M Jarvis are present on this special day here at Ostend. <\/p>\n PazJazz<\/font><\/b> Wow, that\u2019s a lot of history, speaking of which, how long has the Rez been around?<\/p>\n Wellington<\/font><\/b>– Our residency exist for more than 5 years now and is doing well for the moment. The most of our members have won Graded races too. <\/p>\n PazJazz<\/font><\/b>– How many members do you have and do you have any rules about how many stables you can have?<\/p>\n Wellington<\/font><\/b>– We are with 10 members only and we are all living in the Benelux area. That is not a rule but is sure convenient.<\/p>\n PazJazz<\/font><\/b>– What kinds of contests do you offer? Anything new coming up?<\/p>\n Wellington<\/font><\/b>– Sure we love contests. We have every month a restricted race in Ostend for 2 years old, its a competition where the first four of every race are qualified for the finals at the end of the year. This competition is lots of fun and I can assure you that we know lots more of our 2 years old doing this competition. We have other competitions like best trainer in Ostend, best trainer in Europe and a win, show, place competition. This last competition is a contest that all our members have to give every week one horse they running who thinks will win or be in the first three places. The higher the odds the more points you get if the horse ends in the first 3. A lot of fun. <\/p>\n![](\"http:\/\/www.tafelhouderhedwig.be\/Paling%20in%20't%20groen.jpg)
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