American And British History Of Horse Racing
- Filed under: Casinos
- Date: Jul 7,2010
The first man that saw horses running across a flat part of land probably wagered a bet he knew which horse was going to get there first. Once man started to domesticate the horse around 4500 BC in Asia they started to race them and the only people that could participate were kings and the nobles of the area. Horse racing was one of the events during the very first Greek Olympics. This was the beginning of the History of horse racing.
Racing as it is today began after the knights brought the Arabian Horse back with them from the crusades during the twelfth century. These horses were nothing like the old work horses they had before and they were fast and graceful. Stallions of Arabian linage where brought over to breed with English horses and would breed a horse with speed and have the endurance of a work horse. Nobles would bet wagers on which horse would win and thus began modern horse racing.
A very important race to the history of racing happened in 1752 in a little town of Doneraile in County Cork, Ireland. Here a race was organized from the steeple Buttevant Church to the steeple of St. Marys. This is where the term of steeple chasing began. The first formal steeplechase was in 1839 called the Grand National taking place in Liverpool. Another great steeplechase takes place annually during the weekend of Ester in County Meath, Ireland and is called the Irish Grand National.
Starting in the nineteenth century professional horse racing had started. Training of horses and of people to ride the horses was desired because you wanted to have the best horse. The best horse made the most money in the betting circles. Those that owned the trained horses made a great deal of money in 1750 they started up a governing authority for horse racing at Newmarket forming the Jockey Club. This authority has all control over British Horse Racing to this day.
All regulations and rules pertaining to horse racing were recorded by the Jockey club. When making rules they looked at the type of racing and tracks that needed to be used for that particular type. It set up five races for three year old horses, three for only male horses and three for only fillies which makes up the English Triple Crown. The Jockey club administered all breeding regulation too. They documented pedigree of each horse and regulated what horses could race.
Horses with this pedigree are called Thoroughbreds and they all can be linked back to three stallions called the foundation sires. Racing thoroughbreds was brought to America in 1665 and Long Island was the site of the first track. Organization of American racing began right after the Civil War and the sport and betting on horses grew by leaps and bounds. Over 300 tracks were running in America by 1890.
Control of the tracks was non existent in America and the tracks were managed by some unsavory criminals. In England racing was totally acceptable and an event attended by the wealthy. In America it was directly the opposite. Only the seedy undesirable people gathered at the tracks to waste their money on horses.
Interestingly enough during this time of exile for horse racing in America, pari-mutuel betting was introduced for the Kentucky Derby in 1908. This was legalized horse gambling and this turned everything around for horse racing in America. Tracks began to open again and grew from the mere 35 that were left. Horse racing once again was a respectable sport and by 1970 it was very popular again.
In America and Britain there are several different forms of horse racing. The Steeplechase is very popular in both countries. An American variety of racing called harness racing has many tracks that were specifically built to specifications for that type of racing. Thoroughbred racing is probably the most popular and consists of a flat, oval track from about three fourths of a mile to two miles in length. Both countries have many thoroughbred racing venues from which to choose. Both countries have regulations and rules that make racing and betting acceptable. They also regulate horses that can race and continue to keep a running record of all pedigrees of race horses.
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