Horse Racing

Horse racing throughout history has been an organised sport in many countries. Chariot races during Roman times is an early example. In the UK horse racing goes back to the 12th Century after the English Knights returned from the crusades with Arab horses. These Arab horse were then bred with the English horses to produce the thoroughbred horse. The thoroughbred horse is what is used in the UK for horse racing.

There are two main types of horse races National Hunt Races and Flat Races.

National Hunt Race

National Hunt Races are held mid October to the end of April. They Involve jumping obstacles like fences and water ditches. Examples are the Grand National the Cheltenham Gold Cup

National Hunt races are divided into steeplechases and hurdle races.

Steeplechases are races which are over a distance of 2 - 4.5 miles with fixed fences of at least 4.5 ft in height.

Hurdle Races are races over 2 - 3.5 miles with smaller jumps of at least 3.5 ft high these jumps collapse easily.

Flat Races

Flat Races don´t involve jumping over obstacles and normally are much shorter than National Hunt Races. Flat Races are held between March to November. Flat Races include the Derby, the St Leger and the Epsom Oaks.

The Jockey Club

The Jockey Club is the horse racing´s ruling body. It was founded in 1750.

The Jokey club´s role is to ensure that the Rules of racing are enforced both at the courses and within the training establishments. It investigates potential breaches of the rules hand can hand out to offenders punishments.

A licence is need to become a jockey or trainer and these have to be applied for through the Jockey Club

The British Horse Racing Board

The British Horseracing Board (BHB) established 1993 and deals more with the day-to-day administration of racing

BHB organises the fixture list deals with promotion and marketing