Horse racing is an organized sport that involves horses and their riders, who compete against each other for a sum of prize money. Unlike many other sports, horse races are held on dedicated tracks and often feature obstacles such as hurdles. The first three finishers receive a specific amount of cash, which is determined by the race’s rules and regulations. To participate in a race, a horse must be entered by its owner. It must then follow the course in a safe manner, jumping every obstacle (if present) and crossing the finish line before any other horse does.
In the early days of horse racing, many races were private events involving one man’s horse against another’s. Then in the 1860s, the demand for more public races increased and rules were developed to determine which horses were eligible to run. The rules typically included age, sex, birthplace, and previous performance, as well as the pedigree of a horse’s sire and dam. For example, in a standard flat horse race, a horse must have both a sire and dam who are purebred individuals of the same breed.
During the pandemic, as major sports leagues were shutting down, Thoroughbred racing flourished. TVG, a horse-racing channel included in many sports cable packages, saw a surge in viewers. As the season progressed, race-day attendances climbed as people found new ways to spend their day off.
But the growing awareness of horse racing’s dark side has also been a boon for anti-racing organizations, which have used the media to expose abusive training practices, drug use, and the fact that many horses are shipped from America to slaughter in foreign countries. Despite these challenges, racing has continued to grow and improve.
A day later, a race at Santa Anita Park began with a rumble of ten pounding horses as they broke from the gate and started to fly around the track. War of Will took the lead on the far turn, with McKinzie and Mongolian Groom a few strides back.
Bettors often look at a horse’s coat in the walking ring to see how bright and rippling it is before a race. A bright, rippling coat is thought to indicate that the horse is in peak condition and ready to run. But as the race wore on, it became clear that Mongolian Groom’s coat was not as bright as it should have been. At the start of the final stretch, he bucked and seemed disoriented. This was a big problem for his rider, Abel Cedillo, a journeyman from Guatemala who was trying to coax the horse onward and toward victory.