35 Facts About Horse racing

Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys over a set distance for competition.

Horse racing races vary widely in format, and many countries have developed their own particular traditions around the sport.

Horse racing has a long and distinguished history and has been practised in civilisations across the world since ancient times.

Archaeological records indicate that horse racing occurred in Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, Babylon, Syria, and Egypt.

Chariot Horse racing was one of the most popular ancient Greek, Roman and Byzantine sports.

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In later times, Thoroughbred Horse racing became, and remains, popular with aristocrats and royalty of British society, earning it the title "Sport of Kings".

Newmarket and the Jockey Club set the standards but most of the Horse racing took place for small cash prizes and enormous local prestige in landowners' fields and in the rising towns.

Horse racing is one of the few sports that continued during the 2020 COVID-19 crisis, with Australian and Hong Kong the two main racing jurisdictions to carry on, albeit with no crowds.

Breeds that are used for flat racing include the Thoroughbred, Quarter Horse, Arabian, Paint, and Appaloosa.

In harness Horse racing, Standardbreds are used in Australia, New Zealand and North America, when in Europe, Russian and French Trotter are used with Standardbred.

Flat Horse racing tracks are typically oval in shape and are generally level, although in Great Britain and Ireland there is much greater variation, including figure-of-eight tracks like Windsor and tracks with often severe gradients and changes of camber, such as Epsom Racecourse.

Jump Horse racing can be subdivided into steeplechasing and hurdling, according to the type and size of obstacles being jumped.

Contemporary organized endurance Horse racing began in California around 1955, and the first race marked the beginning of the Tevis Cup This race was a one-hundred-mile, one-day-long ride starting in Squaw Valley, Placer County, and ending in Auburn.

Also, the muscles of the Arabian are not nearly as massive as those of the Quarter Horse racing, which allow it to travel longer distances at quicker speeds.

The Arabian is primarily used today in endurance Horse racing but is raced over traditional race tracks in many countries.

Arabian Horse Racing is governed by the International Federation of Arabian Horse Racing.

Ancestors of the Quarter Horse racing were prevalent in America in the early 17th century.

The American Quarter Horse racing was not recognized as an official breed until the formation of the American Quarter Horse racing Association in 1940.

The Quarter Horse has much larger hind limb muscles than the Arabian, which make it less suitable for endurance racing.

When Quarter Horse racing began, it was very expensive to lay a full mile of track so it was agreed that a straight track of four hundred meters, or one-quarter of a mile, would be laid instead.

American betting on horse racing is sanctioned and regulated by the state where the race is located.

The first regular horse racing was organized in 1841 on Mokotow Fields in Warsaw by Towarzystwo Wyscigow Konnych i Wystawy Zwierzat Gospodarskich w Krolestwie Polskim .

Harness Horse racing, is a popular sport in Sweden, with significant amounts of money wagered annually.

Australia's first country Horse racing club was established at Wallabadah in 1852 and the Wallabadah Cup is still held on New Year's Day .

Horse racing is a significant part of the New Zealand economy which in 2004 generated 1.

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Horse racing is a popular sport in South Africa that can be traced back to 1797.

The national horse racing body is known as the National Horseracing Authority and was founded in 1882.

Thoroughbred horse racing came to China with British settlements in the middle 1800s and most notably centered around the treaty ports, including the two major race courses in Shanghai, the Shanghai Racecourse and the International Recreation Grounds, and the racecourses of Tianjin.

Horse racing was banned in the Republic of China from 1945, and the People's Republic of China maintained the ban after 1949, although allowances were made for ethnic minority peoples for whom horse sports are a cultural tradition.

Speed horse racing was an event in the National Games of China, mainly introduced to cater to minority peoples, such as the Mongols.

Horse racing eventually returned to mainland China on the year 2014 as the one-day, five-card event for foreign horses, trainers and jockeys.

British tradition of horse racing left its mark with the creation of one of the most important entertainment and gambling institutions in Hong Kong.

In Malaysia, horse racing was introduced during the British colonial era and remains to the present day as a gambling activity.

Horse racing was introduced to Singapore by the British during the colonial era and remained one of the legal forms of gambling after independence.

Horse racing has left its mark in the naming of roads in Singapore such as Race Course Road in Little India, where horse racing was first held in Singapore, and Turf Club Road in Bukit Timah where Singapore Turf Club used to be situated before moving to its current location in 1999.