Horse Racing. With a history extending from ancient Egypt, the Grecian Olympic Games, and Roman chariot races through medieval and early‐modern Europe, horse racing emerged in late seventeenth century America in the
South, the Middle Atlantic colonies, and New York. As the sport developed in the eighteenth century, certain features stood out. In the absence of a hereditary aristocracy to support it, horse racing was intertwined with commerce. Proximity to cities was essential; city dwellers paid admissions and their betting fuelled the sport.
Horse racing flourished in the
Antebellum Era. Rampant dishonesty provoked efforts to suppress or restrict it, followed by further expansion. Races were two or three miles long, with several heats. The pace was slow since horses ran on dirt tracks, not turf. Sectional tensions were mirrored in
North versus South match races. One such event in 1823 at the Union Course on Long Island—New York had by now established its predominance—drew an estimated sixty thousand spectators.
When the
Civil War devastated racing in the South, the North and
West established preeminence. Kentucky, as a breeding center, was the major exception. U.S. horse racing's premier event, the Kentucky Derby, was first run in 1875 at the newly opened Churchill Downs in Louisville. By the 1890s, three hundred racetracks were operating. Wealthy plutocrats like Leonard Jerome, August Belmont, William Whitney, and others built larger racetracks and established stables. Stakes increased and attendance swelled. Jockeys such as “Snapper” Garrison, Isaac Murphy, and Tod Sloan became celebrities, as did the horses they rode, including Hanover, Salvador, and Sysonby. Led by Sloan, U.S. jockeys revolutionized the style of riding by adopting the forward seat, America's most important contribution to the sport. While bookmakers’ fees provided a major source of revenue for racetracks, their presence added to the pervasive sense of underhanded dealing.
Progressive Era reformers almost ended professional horse racing, but by reforming itself the sport survived and entered a golden age from 1920 to around 1970. Parimutuel machines replaced bookmakers, automatic starting gates and photo‐finish cameras removed sources of contention, and stricter supervision reduced the doping of horses and illegal gambling. Women were more often present at the track, behavior became more orderly, and handsome new racetracks offered larger purses. Brilliant jockeys such as Earl Sande, Eddie Arcaro, and Willie Shoemaker and horses like Man o’ War, Whirlaway, Citation, and Secretariat captured the nation's attention. Fans avidly followed horse racing's “Triple Crown” events: the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness at Baltimore's Pimlico track, and the Belmont Stakes in New York. Harness racing, with the rider in a sulky (a low, two‐wheeled vehicle harnessed to the horse), dating to the 1830s in America, enjoyed a considerable vogue after
World War II.
Horse racing fell on hard times as a spectator event in the later twentieth century as lotteries, casinos, off‐track betting, and other professional sports usurped the track's appeal. Nevertheless, the riders’ skill, the appeal of the horses, and the beauty of the running continued to captivate.
See also
Gambling and Lotteries;
Sports.
Bibliography
William H.P. Robertson , The History of Thoroughbred Racing in America, 2 vols., 1964.
David Alexander , A Sound of Horses: The World of Racing, from Eclipse to Kelso, 1966.
John Dizikes
