The Dark Side of Horse Racing
A horse race is an event in which thoroughbred horses run against one another, a spectacle that can be a source of excitement and glamour. The sport has a rich heritage of equestrian culture, including fashion and food. Spectators at marquee events wear lavish hats, and drink mint juleps. The sport draws millions of fans and generates billions of dollars in revenue, mostly from betting. However, a growing awareness of the dark side of racing is threatening to undermine the industry’s appeal.
While the majority of races are open to the public, some are reserved for the elite. These events are often more about fashion than the actual running of the horse, and attendance is often a status symbol. Attendees dress up, often in fanciful hats or fancy suits, and wear expensive jewelry. Attendance at these events has been declining, but growing awareness of animal welfare issues may revive interest in the sport.
For some, a horse race is an opportunity to bet on the winner and hope for a big payout. The thrill of seeing a long shot win the big prize can relieve people from tight financial constraints for a week or, if it’s a truly great race, a month or even a lifetime.
In the wild, horses love to run fast, and there are still places in the world where you can watch them doing so. But winning a horse race is a human construct, and most horses would rather run together as a group to keep each other safe, and to keep themselves out of harm’s way. Horses who are forced to race, on the other hand, must sprint over and over again at speeds that can cause them to bleed from their lungs (exercise-induced pulmonary hemorrhage). In order to compete with each other, many of these horses are pushed beyond their natural limits and drugged using cocktails of legal and illegal substances, including steroids and diuretics.
The greatest races are often head-to-head showdowns, such as Secretariat’s 31-length demolition job in the Belmont Stakes to clinch the Triple Crown. But there are also great races that climax at just about any point in the race, such as Arkle’s dazzling six-length routing of an international field in the 1965 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.
Most races take place on flat ground, but some are over jumps. In the US, a horse can be trained to race both on the flat and over jumps, and a US-bred or -imported thoroughbred can race in the National Hunt flat races as juveniles, move on to hurdling as a teenager, and then, if deemed capable, to steeplechasing as a mature horse. As the sport has evolved, breeders have aimed to produce faster and more durable horses. This has been fueled by the fact that early equestrian fashion required stout horses to carry heavy armor, and speed became key in warfare.