Close
Close

No products in the cart.

The history of horse racing

The history of horse racing

Published by Programme B

Horse racing is a very old sport. Its origins date back to about 4500 BC when the nomadic tribes of Central Asia (who were the first to domesticate the horse). Since then, horse racing has become known as the sport of kings. Today, horse racing is one of the few forms of gambling that is legal in most parts of the world, including Germany.

Horse racing is one of the most popular spectator sports in the United States. In 1989, more than 50 million people attended 8,000 racing days and invested more than 9 billion dollars. Horse racing is also a popular sport in Canada, Great Britain, Ireland, the Middle East, South America, and Australia.

In the United States, thoroughbred horse racing is one of the most popular races, with flat tracks ranging from the three-quarter-mile to 1 1/4 miles. Trotter races are also very popular.

You can also bet online on horse races. You should check out the odds here. Openodds.com lists the most important data you need to play. In addition to horse racing, you can bet on football, tennis, basketball, ice hockey and eSport on this website.

Horse bets

The bet for the result of the horse races was the main attraction of the sport. This is the only way professional sport can survive.

All bets on American courses are now placed with a betting system of the same name, developed at the end of the 19th century by a Frenchman named Pierre Oller. This system deducts a fixed percentage (typically 14-25%) of the total bet for race bags, track operating costs and state and local taxes. The remaining amount is divided by the number of correct single bets to determine the payout for each bet. Anticipated payouts or “odds of winning” are calculated continuously during the open betting period before each race and displayed on the track board. For example, a “2-1” offer means that for every $1 bet (total return of $3), the time gets a win of $2 if the horse wins.

Players can bet on a horse to win (first target), place (first or second target) or show (first, second or third target). Other popular bets are double daily (selection of winners from two consecutive races), exact (selection of first and second horses in order), quinellas (selection of first and second horses in any order) and selection of six (selection of winners) from six consecutive races.)

Thoroughbred breed

Since the beginning of the recorded history, horse racing has been an organized sport for all the great civilizations of the world. Both carriage and horse races took place at the old Olympic Games. Sport was also very popular in the Roman Empire.

The origins of modern racing go back to the 12th century when English knights with fast Arabian horses returned from the Crusades. Over the next four centuries, more and more Arabian stallions were imported and bred into English mares to produce horses with speed and endurance. The aristocracy bet privately on match racing among the fastest of these horses.

During the reign of Queen Anne (1702-1714) horse racing became a professional sport. The Match Race became a multi-horse race on which the spectators bet. Everywhere in England, there were race tracks where more and more were offered to attract the best horses. The high quantities made it more profitable to breed and own horses. The rapid spread of sport required a central government agency. In 1750 the racing elite gathered in Newmarket to found the Jockey Club. This organization still regulates English regattas today.

The Jockey Club drafted the racing rules and approved the circuits for the meetings. The standards that define the quality of the breeds led to certain breeds being designated as final proofs of quality. Since 1814, five races for three-year-olds have been described as “classics”. The English Triple Crown consists of three breeds (open to stallions and fillies): the 2,000 Guineas, the Epsom Derby and the St. There are two classic breeds that are only open to fillies: the 1000 Guineas and the Epsom Oaks.

The Jockey Club also worked on the regulation of racehorse breeding. James Weatherby, whose family was responsible for the members of the Jockey Club, was asked to follow the pedigree of every racehorse in England. In 1791 he published the results of his research as an introduction to the studbook. From 1793 to the present day, members of the Weatherby family have recorded the pedigree of each descendant of these racehorses in the following volumes of the herd book. At the beginning of the 19th century, the only eligible horses were the descendants of the horses listed in the herd book. There the horses were called “thoroughbred horses”. Each thoroughbred goes back to one of the three stallions. These stallions were the Byerley Turk (foal around 1679), the Darley Arabian (foal around 1700) and the Godolphin Arabian (foal around 1724).

Upbringing

Although science has not been able to develop a proven breeding system to produce good racehorses, over the centuries breeders have become increasingly successful in breeding purebred horses that perform well on the track. They followed two basic principles. The first is that Thoroughbreds with superior racing skills tend to produce successful offspring. The second reason is that horses of certain pedigrees are more likely to pass on their racing genes to their offspring.

Pure-bred stallions have the highest reproductive value since they can mate with approximately 40 mares per year. The value of the “champions”, in particular, the winners of the Triple Crown races, is so high that investor groups, so-called breeding associations, can form. Each of the approximately 40 actions of the Union entitles the owner to mate a mare with the stallion every year. Part of a winning horse can cost millions of dollars. The holder of a share may resell it at any time.

Companies that offer foals for auction breeding are referred to as commercial breeders. The most successful are E. J. Taylor, Spendthrift Farms, Claiborne Farms, Gainsworthy Farm and Bluegrass Farm (all in Kentucky). Farms that breed foals for their own stables are called home breeders. These include famous stables such as Calumet Farms, Elmendorf Farm and Green-Tree Stable in Kentucky and Harbour View Farm in Florida.

Closing balance

Despite the strong increase in online gambling in recent years, it is still a popular pastime in England to spend a day at the races and make some bets on the track. In fact, official statistics from the British Horse Racing Authority report a 5.3% increase in participation in horse racing from 2018.

It is known worldwide that horse racing in Great Britain is much more than just a sport. While these are often entertaining family days where casual players and experts meet to watch and bet. One of the things that makes horse racing unique is that it has preserved many of the traditions that shaped the sport in its early years. While many sports have seen a significant shift from betting in betting offices to online betting in the last decade, participation in betting events and betting via track bookmakers remains an important cornerstone of horse racing. Although horse betting is no longer limited to the upper class, many racetracks insist on a strict dress code that preserves the tradition of the nobility. In short, horse racing was and is a cornerstone of competition culture. However, online betting is becoming more popular and more and more players are betting on certain horse races via online betting websites.

Photo by veeterzy from Pexels

Close
↓ THIS IS AN AD ↓
↓ THIS IS AN AD ↓