The Sport of Horse Racing

People have been racing horses since the animal was first domesticated around 4500 BC. I believe it is human nature to make a sporting event out of every possible scenario. I can see it now. As soon as there were two domesticated horses, the owners started bragging about his horse being the best and fastest. Words had as little meaning then as they do now. It had to have been a ‘put your money where your mouth is and show me that your horse is faster than mine’ kind of situation. Thus we had the beginning of betting on the ponies.

Horse racing was and is a sport to be appreciated by everyone. Kings as well as common people owned horses and used them for work and/or sport whichever fulfilled their need and held their interest at the time. In the beginning the horses were used for dual purposes but today’s race horses have ancestors that were bred and cross bred purely for their size and speed.

The nomadic tribesman of Central Asia are credited for domesticating the first horses and I believe they had no idea that they were beginning and enabling a sport that would last and flourish for nearly ten thousand years.

Horse racing evolved into a professional sport in the early seventeen hundreds. As the horse racing grew and aged, it became necessary to set up undisputable rules to regulate the sport. Each new race track had to be built according to specific standards and had to be approved before racing was allowed. Rules were put into place for Jockey’s as well, one of the more commonly known ones is in regards to jockey's personal weight. Many think that jockey's have a height restriction, however there is no regulation in place for that, it is just that the majority of jockey are short in stature.

Millions of people attend horse races every year and bet billions of dollars on their favorite horses. New comers and shrewd old timers bet not only on the horse most favored to win, but also on the long shot who will return the largest purse. It is legal to bet on horse racing in most parts of the world, including the United States. If you are planning on taking a little trip around any area that houses a horse track, you may just want to stop in and see what all the hype is about. Lay a few dollars down and give your luck a try.