What Goes On Behind The Scenes Of A Horse Race?What Goes On Behind The Scenes Of A Horse Race?
Horse races are a spectacle of flashy outfits and mint juleps, where spectators show off their wealth and social status. Behind this facade, however, is a world of injuries, drug abuse, gruesome breakdowns and slaughter. Despite efforts to reform the industry, horses continue to suffer, and this suffering is driven by money. The race industry must make a change to its business model with the best interests of the animals as the top priority, not the profits of the owners and fans.
In the beginning, horse races were match contests between two, or at most three, horses. But pressure by the public prompted the sport to expand into events with larger fields of runners. Eventually, races became one-heat dashes in which a rider’s skill and judgment was vital to winning. Many bettors, both the hard-core daily ones and casual visitors, grew to know and cheer for a favorite horse. In the days of Seabiscuit, for example, a significant percentage of bettors followed him all the way to the finish line.
While race enthusiasts watch the action from the grandstands, a team of professionals oversees the equine participants. An official known as the racing secretary assigns weights to each entrant, trying to level the playing field for winners. He also studies the horses’ past performance to determine their chances. Then, at the start of the race, a flag is dropped to denote that the race has begun.
During the race, the jockeys, or riders, must follow the course and jump every hurdle (if present) in the correct order. A rider who does not follow the course or jump a hurdle correctly is disqualified. A race can also be abandoned if a hazard forces the organizers to stop it.
After the conclusion of a race, the race results are published. The winner receives a certain amount of prize money, while the second- and third-place finishers win lesser amounts. A player may choose to place a bet on the winner, the first or second-place finisher, or both.
A race may be run on a dirt, turf, or synthetic track. A grass or dirt track is more suited to fast running than a synthetic track, which is more slippery. A synthetic track can be made faster than a grass or dirt track by applying sand or rubber on the surface.
Spectators who attend horse races are often entertained by the antics of the players, such as jockeys’ falls and the acrobatics involved in mounting a horse. But, a growing awareness of the cruelty inherent in this industry has been fueled by investigations into abusive training practices for young horses, the use of drugs to keep injured horses on the track and in the starting gate, and the tragic deaths of thousands of racehorses each year. These issues have led to some improvements, but the horse racing industry has yet to embrace major reforms.