A horse race is a contest between several horses for the right to win a prize. It is an activity that has been around for thousands of years and has been practiced by a number of civilizations. It is considered one of the world’s most popular sports. Despite its popularity, it is a sport that is also very cruel to the horses involved. In fact, most are doomed to end their lives in slaughterhouses in Canada, Mexico and Japan where they are turned into dog food and glue. The most famous example of this is Eight Belles, the 2008 Kentucky Derby winner who died shortly afterward from a gruesome breakdown and hemorrhage in her lungs.
The earliest races were match races between two or at most three horses with the owners providing the purse, a simple wager that came to be known as the play or pay rule. The agreements were recorded by disinterested third parties, who became known as keepers of the match book. When an owner withdrew, he forfeited half or sometimes the entire purse.
In 1664, the British colony of New Amsterdam (now New York City) began organized racing by establishing the first 2-mile course on Long Island, with an emphasis on stamina rather than speed. This was a major shift from the English model and was later replicated in other countries.
The main objective of the modern Thoroughbred racehorse is to be fast and capable of sprinting over short distances. To this end, a racehorse must be physically and mentally in peak condition. The specialized training and conditioning that goes into making a racehorse a champion requires enormous time, money and resources. The sport is a for-profit endeavor, and the goal of most racehorse owners is to earn money from winning bets on the horses in their care.
A race begins with the horses being brought into the paddock area at the track to be saddled. Then they are paraded past an official for inspection. The stewards then decide who is eligible to compete and assign weights, designed to equalize the chances of all entrants for the race. The weights are adjusted throughout the year, depending on the quality of the horses and the amount of money that has been wagered.
The races are run over a variety of surfaces and distances, ranging from 5 furlongs to 10 miles. The most prestigious flat races are run over distances that test both speed and stamina.
When journalists report on elections, focusing mainly on how close the race is and comparing candidates’ policies, they are engaging in horse race coverage, a type of biased reporting that hurts voters, the news industry and candidates themselves. A number of studies show that when journalists frame elections as a competitive game, voters and the news media themselves suffer. The studies analyzed print news stories published in newspapers between Sept. 1 and Election Day in 2004 and 2006. Newspapers that were owned by large chains and corporate owners were more likely to engage in horse race coverage.