A horse race is an event where horses are ridden by jockeys (also known as riders) competing to be the first over the finish line. There are a wide variety of different horse races, but most share similar rules. The rules of horse racing are determined by the national horse racing organisation. Some countries have separate rules for flat and jump races.
Traditionally, flat races have been match contests between two, and sometimes three, horses run over four-mile heats. The race was won by the horse that was fastest, and a rider’s skill and judgment were crucial to a winning time. However, increasing pressure from the public led to events with larger fields of runners. As a result, the importance of speed diminished, and endurance became more important.
The sport of horse racing has long been a favorite pastime of wealthy people, and it’s not uncommon for horses to be bred and trained at a cost of tens of thousands of dollars. As such, there is a strong incentive for trainers and owners to do everything they can to improve their horses’ chances of winning.
This has led to a high degree of corruption in the industry, with people regularly cheating by dangerously drugging their horses or countenancing such behavior from their agents. There are also dupes, who labor under the fantasy that the industry is broadly fair and honest. And there are the masses in between—neither crooks nor dupes, but honorable souls who realize that the business is more crooked than it ought to be.
In addition, the use of the pari-mutuel betting system has meant that many customers bet against each other rather than the track. This allows the house to lose money in some races, but the track will still pay out all winning bettors. This is possible because customers’ money is pooled into a single account, and odds are adjusted accordingly.
The recent story in The Times about video footage of animal abuse at the elite level of thoroughbred racing has sparked outrage from horse lovers and a strong response from the sport’s apologists. But it’s a mistake to confuse hostility toward PETA with dismissal of the report’s content. Virtually no one outside of horse racing cares how activists get undercover video of alleged cruelty; they care only about the content. And the report’s contents, unfortunately, are disturbing.