Race Horses

All of the famous race horses that you have ever heard of that won the Kentucky Derby or the Belmont Stakes are thoroughbreds.
Thoroughbred horse racing is the best known, but quarter horses are also raced, and standardbreds are raced in harness. There are also races for particular breeds like Arabian horses. The fact is that anywhere there are two horses and two riders, a horse race can break out.

The first race horses were those that pulled the chariots in the chariot races in the ancient Olympic Games — or at least they were the first ones that appear in recorded history. There are race horses mentioned, however, in the written histories of almost all of the ancient civilizations.

Most thoroughbred horse races are between slightly more than one mile (5 furlongs) and one and one-half miles in length. Quarter horse races are shorter — usually about one-quarter mile, hence the name of the horse. Quarter horses run faster than thoroughbreds, but only for a short distance.

The most famous race horses are the three contests that make up the "Triple Crown" of thoroughbred racing — the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes, and the Belmont Stakes. The Breeders' Cup races are held at a different race track every year and are gaining in importance. The Breeders' Cup is held at the end of the racing season.

There is also a standardbreds' race that awards the Breeders' Crown and a Triple Crown of harness racing for pacers and a Triple Crown of harness for trotters.

Horse racing is called the "sport of kings," and it is closely associated with gambling. There is an old saying, "a difference of opinion is what makes horse racing," and the fact is that everybody thinks that their horse will win if they have a horse in the race.