- Early history
- Organized racing
- Match races
- Open field racing
- Bloodlines and studbooks
- Evolution of races
- The modern age of racing
- Jockey clubs and racing authorities
- Handicap racing
- Purse money and stake fees
- Racing ages
- Breeding theory and practice
- Racing procedure
- Racing silks
- Racing strategy
- The state of racing
- Horse of the Year winners
Bloodlines and studbooks
All horse racing on the flat except quarter-horse racing involves Thoroughbred horses. Thoroughbreds evolved from a mixture of Arab, Turk, and Barb horses with native English stock. Private studbooks had existed from the early 17th century, but they were not invariably reliable. In 1791 Weatherby published An Introduction to a General Stud Book, the pedigrees being based on earlier Racing Calendars and sales papers. After a few years of revision, it was updated annually. All Thoroughbreds are said to descend from three “Oriental” stallions (the Darley Arabian, the Godolphin Barb, and the Byerly Turk, all brought to Great Britain, 1690–1730) and from 43 “royal” mares (those imported by Charles II). The preeminence of English racing and hence of the General Stud Book from 1791 provided a standard for judging a horse’s breeding (and thereby, at least to some degree, its racing qualities). In France the Stud Book Française (beginning in 1838) originally included two classifications: Orientale (Arab, Turk, and Barb) and Anglais (mixtures according to the English pattern), but these were later reduced to one class, chevaux de pur sang Anglais (“horses of pure English blood”). The American Stud Book dates from 1897 and includes foals from Canada, Puerto Rico, and parts of Mexico, as well as from the United States.
The long-standing reciprocity among studbooks of various countries was broken in 1913 by the Jersey Act passed by the English Jockey Club, which disqualified many Thoroughbred horses bred outside England or Ireland. The purpose of the act was ostensibly to protect the British Thoroughbred from infusions of North American (mainly U.S.) sprinting blood. After a rash of victories in prestigious English races by French horses with “tainted” American ancestry in the 1940s, the Jersey Act was rescinded in 1949.
Evolution of races
The original King’s Plates were standardized races—all were for six-year-old horses carrying 168 pounds at 4-mile heats, a horse having to win two heats to be adjudged the winner. Beginning in 1751, five-year-olds carrying 140 pounds (63.5 kg) and four-year-olds carrying 126 pounds (57 kg) were admitted to the King’s Plates, and heats were reduced to 2 miles (3.2 km). Other racing for four-year-olds was well established by then, and a race for three-year-olds carrying 112 pounds (51 kg) in one 3-mile (4.8-km) heat was run in 1731. Heat racing for four-year-olds continued in the United States until the 1860s. By that time, heat racing had long since been overshadowed in Europe by dash racing, a “dash” being any race decided by only one heat, regardless of its distance.
The modern age of racing
The beginning of the modern era of racing is generally considered to have been the inauguration of the English classic races: the St. Leger in 1776, the Oaks in 1779, and the Derby in 1780. All were dashes for three-year-olds. To these races were later added the Two Thousand Guineas in 1809 and the One Thousand Guineas in 1814. (The St. Leger, Derby, and Two Thousand Guineas have come to constitute the British Triple Crown of horse racing.) During the 19th century, races of the English classic pattern—dashes for three-year-olds carrying level weights—spread all over the world. The French classics are the Prix du Jockey Club (1836), the Grand Prix du Paris (1863), and the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (1920).
The American classics are the Belmont Stakes (1867), the Preakness Stakes (1873), and the Kentucky Derby (1875), which make up the American Triple Crown. Since the establishment of the British and American Triple Crown series, scores of countries have instituted their own (less prestigious) Triple Crowns of elite races.
Jockey clubs and racing authorities
The Jockey Club of Britain, founded at Newmarket about 1750, wrote its own rules of racing. In contrast to the earlier King’s Plates rules, these new rules took into account different kinds of contests involving horses of various ages and were thus more detailed. The new rules originally applied only to Newmarket, but, when the rules were printed in the Racing Calendar, they served as a model for rules throughout Britain. The Jockey Club later acquired the General Stud Book and came to control English racing in the 19th century. Its regulatory powers ended in 2006 when governance over British racing was transferred to the Horseracing Regulatory Authority. In 2007 power shifted to a new group, the British Horseracing Authority, which formed from a merger of the Horseracing Regulatory Authority and the British Horseracing Board.
France Galop is the organization governing French horse racing. The organization was created in 1995 from the merger of three horse racing authorities: the Société d’Encouragement et des Steeple-Chases de France, the Société de Sport de France, and the Société Sportive d’Encouragement.
In the United States the governance of racing resides in state commissions; track operation is private. The (North American) Jockey Club, founded in 1894 in New York, at one time exercised wide but not complete control of American racing. It maintains The American Stud Book.
English racing spread to Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa, and India in the 19th century, and many of their governing bodies emulated the British. Thousands of jockey clubs, both local and national, are today present around the world. Most of the national jockey clubs are members of the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities, whose annual conference in Paris reviews racing developments and discusses issues related to breeding, racing, and betting. The conference is hosted by the Jockey Club de Paris.