Brief History of Horse Racing

As far as sporting events go, horse racing is one of the oldest sports in the world. It began around 4500 BC in Central Asia when nomadic tribesman began domesticating horses, bringing man and horse together. Horse racing however, did not really start to draw attention until chariot and horse mounted races came about in 636 BC. The events became extremely popular and were a major attraction at the ancient Greek Olympics and quickly spread throughout Central Asia to the Mediterranean.

During the 12^th Century, when the English returned from the Crusades, they brought back with them the Arabian horse, a rather swift breed. Over the next couple hundred years, kings and nobility brought in a great number of Arabian horses a well as horses from Italy, Spain and North Africa. These new horse breeds were bred with the English mares, in hopes of producing a breed of horse with both endurance and speed. During this time, nobility also took up a new hobby by betting on two-horse races, to see witch horse could go faster and last longer. Modern horse racing had begun.

England has the earliest records of horse racing, recorded at York in 1530. Just 10 years later, Chester's first track was built. Then in the 1700s with Queen Anne at the throne, horse racing really began to evolve into the professional sport that it is today. Race tracks were built all over England with large winning purses to attract the best of the best horses. These races included multiple horses which spectators could bet on.

With the sport of horse racing taking off, the need for rules and regulations became apparent. The top racers met and established, The Jockey Club, who in turn wrote a complete set of rules and regulations for horse racing and racecourses. Steps were also taken to regulate the breeding of race horses. The task of recording the family history and pedigree of every horse used for racing in England was assigned to James Weatherby. Once completed, his work was published as the "Introduction to the General Stud Book." From then until resent, the Weatherby family has recorded every foal born to those horses already listed.

By the mid 1800s, horse racing had exploded in the United States greatly due to the track built in Saratoga Spring, New York. May 17, 1875 marked the opening of the first Kentucky Derby, a race still continued today. Horse racing was growing so fast in the United States that by 1890 there were over 300 racetracks up and running throughout the states. Then just like in England, time came for some authority to take over the rules of horse racing and the American Jockey club was established in 1894.

During the early 1900, horse racing was nearly wiped out in the United States due to anti-gambling efforts and by 1908 only 25 tracks remained open. After some bargaining the state legislature overturned the ban in exchange for a cut of the money paid by betters. By 1920 with the help of legendary horse Man o' War, people started heading back to the track.

When World War II came about the mostly male-dominate sport once again began to slow and then dropped even more in the 50's and 60's. Horses such as Affirmed, Secretariat and Seattle Slew, each winners of the Kentucky Derby and American Triple Crown, once again brought people back, only to lose them again in 1980. Just like in the past, around came 1990 and horse racing had picked back up and second to baseball, with winning purses ranging to one million dollars or more, horse racing is the most spectator watched sport in the United States.

Sources:

Animal Planet."History of Horse Racing." animal.discovery.com Encyclopedia Britannica Online. "Horse Racing"