A Short History Of Horse Racing

History records that man first domesticated wild horse around 4500 BC and that was the beginning of the love affair between humans and horses.  There is no certainty as to when horse racing began but with humans being so competitive, it is like that soon after they were domesticated, people started arguing about whose horse was the best and raced them to prove their points.  The history of horse racing really begins with mentions of the sport by the ancient cultures of Central Asia and by 638 BC it was a part of the Olympic Games.  The Romans became interested in the sport and horse and chariot racing spread throughout the southern parts of Europe along with their expanding empire.

Horse Racing

When the Crusaders returned to England form their battles against the Moors in the 12th century, they brought back Arabian stallions with them.  These horses were extremely fast and agile but were not well suited for the cold damp climate of the north and so they were cross bred with the hardier local breeds to produce animals more suited to the northern climate.  The history of horse racing as an organized sport on the lines that is exists today began with race meets in the early 1500s and the earliest known race track came into being around this time.  Maintaining horses for racing was so expensive that it was limited only to the nobility and was not a sport of the people.  It took 200 years for the popularity to spread and for racing to become a sport of widespread interest in the country.

Since the early colonists brought horses with them when they came to America, it was not long before horse racing became a popular private sport and this led to the setting up of the first race track in the country in Long Island in the mid 17th century.  Many other race tracks sprang up in the New York area but these races were limited to the rich landed farmers and plantation owners who used racing as a way of showing off their breeding and training prowess.  It was around the time of the Civil war that the popularity of horse racing began to spread and businessmen saw the huge potential of organized racing for money.

Soon enough, in the mid 1860s, Saratoga Springs saw the opening of the first “modern” race track where the first stakes race in the country was run.  From that time, horse racing has never looked back and although wars and depressions may ha slowed its growth at times; racing has continued to grow with live telecast of races and online betting taking the sport to places where race tracks do not exist.

Horse Racing

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