Horse races are a major part of the entertainment business at many tracks. But there are also serious concerns about the treatment of horses. Several recent revelations have rocked the world of thoroughbred racing. The most significant was the video from PETA that was posted on the Atlantic, revealing the alleged abuse of top-flight racehorses at two well-known training facilities—Churchill Downs in Kentucky and Saratoga in upstate New York. The video shows what activists have long feared. The exploitation of horses is widespread in the industry, even at the highest levels.
A number of people involved in horse racing are crooks who dangerously drug their horses to mask injuries and artificially enhance performance. A smaller number of people are dupes who labor under the fantasy that the sport is broadly fair and honest. Then there are the masses in the middle—not naive nor cheaters but honorable souls who know that racing is more crooked than it ought to be, and who don’t do enough to fix the problem.
The spectacle of horse races draws crowds of spectators to the grandstands, where they can eat and drink and cheer on their favorite horses. Many horse-racing fans are drawn to the sport by the power of a strong, beautiful animal, or by the chance to win big. Often the winner takes all the prize money—a purse that is in the millions of dollars.
As the sport has grown more popular, it has become more formalized. Today, horseracing includes a variety of different types of races—from local, low-level races to major events such as the Triple Crown. Many of these events are sponsored by commercial companies, which contribute to the purses. A race can be a winner-take-all event or a place-only event.
To win a race, a horse must finish ahead of the other horses in the race and meet other criteria laid out by the governing body for that particular type of race. The winner is awarded a certain amount of prize money, and other amounts go to the second- and third-place finishers. In addition to monetary awards, there are usually other prizes awarded to the winners and participants of a horse race.
In the early days of horseracing, most races were winner-take-all. But as the race industry grew more professional, the prize money started to spread out. The most prestigious events offer huge prize money. In the United States these include the Triple Crown series of races: The Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes.
The earliest horse races were likely organized around the Greek Olympic Games, which took place from 700 to 40 B.C. The games featured both four-hitched chariot races and mounted bareback rides. Eventually, horses became the predominant mode of transport for the games.
A horse is said to have a “classic” pedigree when it is bred to compete in one of the five historic major Flat races in Britain: the 2,000 Guineas, 1,000 Guineas, Oaks and Derby, or its equivalents in other European countries. Horses with the same mother are called half-brothers and sisters.
