A Day at the Races
Horse racing has entranced spectators for centuries, even as early as the Greek Olympic Games. Nowadays, there is nothing quite like a day at the races, especially when you can place a wager on your favorite horse. The sport is thrilling to watch and even more so to win, making it one of the most popular spectator sports on the planet.
In the earliest times of horse racing, there were no organized events, but it is believed that horses and their riders participated in informal competitions. In these early days, a match race was a contest between two or more horses in which the owners provided the purse; a winner was declared by a judge who recorded the agreement of a disinterested third party, the “keeper of the match book.”
As time passed, horse racing became more formalized and rules were established. The first standardized races, called the King’s Plates, were run in the 1750s and involved six-year-old horses carrying 168 pounds in 4-mile heats; a win was determined by winning two of the three races. Eventually five-year-olds and fillies were admitted to the races, which was the beginning of the concept we know today as allowance racing.
Races are usually divided into two broad categories: flat racing and jumps racing. Typically, flat races are confined to a single track over distances of five to twelve furlongs (1.0 to 2.4 km). A race over more than two miles is very rare. Flat racing is generally regarded as a test of speed, while long-distance races are seen as tests of stamina.
Jumps racing consists of hurdles and fences that must be cleared over the course of a race. Usually, these obstacles are placed at various distances from the starting line. Jumps racing is a sport of progression; a young horse will start its career in National Hunt flat races, then move on to hurdling and, if it is deemed capable, to steeplechasing.
A day at the races can include a multitude of activities, from placing wagers on your favorite horse to enjoying top menu items at nearby restaurants and eateries. It is a great way to spend the day and there’s no better feeling than watching your horse take home a victory.
In a recent article for the Journalist’s Resource, Denise-Marie Ordway wrote that when journalists focus on horse races rather than policy issues — what she calls “horse race coverage” — voters and the news industry itself suffer. She noted that multiple studies have shown that when journalists cover a horse race, they fail to adequately inform their audiences of the key issues at hand.
In a sport as complex and global as horse racing, it is impossible to determine which races are the most important. Different distances, surfaces and conditions make it difficult to compare horses and evaluate their talent against each other. Nevertheless, a few races stand out as being particularly significant. One of those is the Belmont Stakes, the final race of a Triple Crown series. Unlike the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes, which are open to all horses, the Belmont is reserved for the best three-year-olds in the nation.