A horse race is a competition in which horses are driven by jockeys or pulled by sulkies (two-wheeled carts with drivers) to compete for money. It has been a popular sport on a global scale for centuries and is a major source of entertainment for millions of fans, who bet on the winner of a given race. Betting on horse races typically involves placing bets on which horse will win, place, or show, or accumulator bets in which multiple bets are placed at different times.
The first recorded horse race took place in ancient Greece, but the sport has been practiced in civilizations around the world since then. Archaeological records of the sport have been found in the United States, Egypt, Babylon, Syria, and many other nations and territories. In addition to being a popular sporting event, horse racing has also been an important part of human history and culture, appearing in the Bible as well as folklore and mythology.
Horse races have become a global business, with an estimated 1.2 billion people betting on them each year. The sport is regulated by a number of countries, and the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities governs the sport worldwide. There are more than 100 national governing bodies of horseracing, each responsible for the regulation and licensing of individual tracks and the oversight of the industry as a whole.
As dash racing became the norm, a few yards in a race gained in significance, as did a jockey’s skill and judgment in coaxing that advantage from his mount. Especially as the races got longer and the stakes higher, jockeys devoted more and more time to schooling their charges in the starting gate and in the paddock.
By the time a race was underway, the horses were usually swollen with adrenaline and their lungs filled with lactic acid. They were thirsty too, and most of them received a shot of Lasix, a diuretic indicated on the form by a boldface “L.” The drug prevents pulmonary bleeding that hard running can cause in some horses.
Critics say that, in addition to being inaccurate, news outlets’ use of pre-election polls gives the impression that a close election is a horse race, and that they skew public opinion by focusing on who will win rather than on policy issues. But despite criticisms, the use of quick polling is not only legal but protected by freedoms of speech and press.