We may not have horse racing or greyhound racing for that matter, but one thing we do have in Cayman is goldfish racing. Yes, you read that right.
Local bar Aqua Beach has introduced this somewhat bizarre sport every Tuesday night in a novel way to help reel in the punters, and its proving quite a fishy hit.
The event kicks off at 9pm and features six aquatic races throughout the night. The brightly coloured orange critters – more accustomed to swimming around in circles in the relative comfort of their goldfish bowl – race down custom-made Perspex tracks.
Patrons get to choose their very own aquatic athlete from a choice of racing fish in the tank at the bar. The fishy thoroughbreds are then encouraged to swim down the track by their ‘race jockey’, who squirts water from a water gun to coax them along. The first goldfish to make it across the finish line wins, garnering their race jockey a free Corona to quench their thirst from all that water gun action.
Chill out
Aqua Beach Bar Manager Craig Frederick assures us that no fish are hurt in this fun sport.
“We take good care of them. They train and chill out together and we feed them every day with their steroids.” Before you become alarmed, that’s what Craig calls their fish food.
“We have eight racing fish in total and they all have their own names. Some are definitely better racers than others. Jose so far is definitely our most dominate fish. He can have a bit of an attitude problem though. Sometimes he stubbornly refuses to swim, but when he does he goes straight down that track. It’s really fun to watch.”
We’re not sure what the goldfish think of all this, but are pretty grateful they only have five second memories.
Related Videos
