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Horse racing is the second largest
spectator sport
A spectator sport is a sport that is characterized by the presence of spectators, or watchers, at its competitions. Spectator sports may be professional sports or amateur sports. They often are distinguished from participant sports, which are ...
in
Great Britain
Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...
,
and one of the longest established, with a history dating back many centuries. According to a report by the British Horseracing Authority it generates £3.39 billion total direct and indirect expenditure in the British
economy
An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with the ...
, of which £1.05 Billion is from core racing industry expenditure and the major horse racing events such as
Royal Ascot and
Cheltenham Festival
The Cheltenham Festival is a horse racing-based meeting in the National Hunt racing calendar in the United Kingdom, with race prize money second only to the Grand National. The four-day festival takes place annually in March at Cheltenham Ra ...
are important dates in the British and international sporting and society calendar.
The sport has taken place in the country since
Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
times and many of the sport's traditions and rules originated there. The
Jockey Club, established in 1750, codified the ''Rules of Racing'' and one of its members,
Admiral Rous
Admiral The Honourable Henry John Rous (23 January 1795 – 19 June 1877) was an officer of the British Royal Navy, who served during the Napoleonic Wars, and was later a Member of Parliament and a leading figure in horse racing.
Biography
Famil ...
laid the foundations of the
handicapping system for
horse racing, including the
weight-for-age
{{use dmy dates, date=October 2022
Weight for Age (WFA) is a term in thoroughbred horse racing which is one of the conditions for a race.
History
The principle of WFA was developed by Admiral Rous, a handicapper with the English Jockey Club. Rous ...
scale. Britain is also home to racecourses including
Newmarket,
Ascot and
Cheltenham and races including
The Derby at
Epsom
Epsom is the principal town of the Borough of Epsom and Ewell in Surrey, England, about south of central London. The town is first recorded as ''Ebesham'' in the 10th century and its name probably derives from that of a Saxon landowner. The ...
,
The Grand National and
Cheltenham Gold Cup
The Cheltenham Gold Cup is a Grade 1 National Hunt horse race run on the New Course at Cheltenham Racecourse in England, over a distance of about 3 miles 2½ furlongs (3 ...
. The UK has also produced some of the greatest
jockeys, including
Fred Archer Fred or Frederick Archer may refer to:
* Fred Archer (jockey) (1857–1886), English jockey
* Fred R. Archer (1889–1963), photographer and co-inventor of the photographic Zone System
* Frederick Scott Archer (1813–1857), inventor of the photogr ...
, Sir
Gordon Richards and
Lester Piggott
Lester Keith Piggott (5 November 1935 – 29 May 2022) was an English professional jockey and trainer. With 4,493 career flat racing wins in Britain, including a record nine Epsom Derby victories, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest ...
.
Britain has also historically been a hugely important centre for
thoroughbred
The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed. Thoroughbreds are ...
racehorse breeding. In fact all racehorses are called English Thoroughbred, the breed having been created in England. All modern thoroughbred racehorses can trace a line back to three foundation
sires which were imported to Britain in the late 17th/early 18th centuries
and the
General Stud Book
The ''General Stud Book'' is a breed registry for horses in Great Britain and Ireland. More specifically it is used to document the breeding of Thoroughbreds and related foundation bloodstock such as the Arabian horse. Today it is published e ...
first published by
James Weatherby
The Weatherbys Group is a UK conglomerate involved in a wide range of activities largely within banking and horse racing. The original business was founded by James Weatherby in 1770.
History
James Weatherby was appointed to serve the Jockey C ...
still records details of every horse in the breed.
Gambling
Gambling (also known as betting or gaming) is the wagering of something of value ("the stakes") on a random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy are discounted. Gambling thus requires three el ...
on horseraces has been one of the cornerstones of the British betting industry and the relationship between the two has historically been one of mutual dependence. The betting industry is an important funder of horse racing in Great Britain, through the betting levy administered by the
Horserace Betting Levy Board
The Horserace Betting Levy Board (HBLB), commonly abbreviated to the Levy Board, is a non-departmental public body of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport in the United Kingdom. It is a statutory body established by the Betting Le ...
and through media rights negotiated by racecourses and betting shops.
Types of racing
There are two main forms of horse racing in Great Britain.
*
Flat racing
Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic pr ...
, which is run over distances between 5
furlong
A furlong is a measure of distance in imperial units and United States customary units equal to one eighth of a mile, equivalent to 660 feet, 220 yards, 40 rods, 10 chains or approximately 201 metres. It is now mostly confined to use in hor ...
s and 2
miles 5 furlongs 159
yard
The yard (symbol: yd) is an English unit of length in both the British imperial and US customary systems of measurement equalling 3 feet or 36 inches. Since 1959 it has been by international agreement standardized as exactly ...
s on courses without obstacles
*
National Hunt racing
In horse racing in the United Kingdom, France and Republic of Ireland, National Hunt racing requires horses to jump fences and ditches. National Hunt racing in the UK is informally known as "jumps" and is divided into two major distinct branches: ...
, races run over distances between 2 miles and miles, where horses usually jump either
hurdles
Hurdling is the act of jumping over an obstacle at a high speed or in a sprint. In the early 19th century, hurdlers ran at and jumped over each hurdle (sometimes known as 'burgles'), landing on both feet and checking their forward motion. Today, ...
or fences (races known as
steeplechases). There is also a category of National Hunt races known as
National Hunt flat race National Hunt flat races, informally known as bumper races, are a type of flat racing but run under National Hunt racing rules in Britain and Ireland.
National Hunt flat races were created on 15 July 1891 when a conference between the stewards of ...
s, which are run under National Hunt rules, but where no obstacles are jumped.
Collectively, the above racing is often referred to as racing "under rules", since there is another form of racing which is run on an altogether more informal and ''ad hoc'' basis, known as
point-to-point racing. Point-to-point is a form of
steeplechasing for
amateur riders.
All the above forms of the sport are run under the auspices of the governing and regulatory body for horse racing in
Great Britain
Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...
, the
British Horseracing Authority
The British Horseracing Authority, also known simply as the BHA, is the regulatory authority for horse racing in Great Britain.
It was formed on 31 July 2007, after the merger of the British Horseracing Board (BHB) and the Horseracing Regulato ...
. with the exception of point-to-pointing which is administered by the Point-to-Point Authority with the BHA taking on regulatory functions. There is also a limited amount of
harness racing which takes place under the auspices of the British Harness Racing Society and
Arabian racing which takes place under the auspices of the Arabian Racing Organisation.
History
Roman era to Middle Ages
Horses were used as beasts of burden in pre-Roman times, but it is thought that the first horse races to take place in Britain were organised by Carl in
Yorkshire
Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...
around 200 AD, although whether the Romans actually introduced the sport is a matter of conjecture. It is believed that Romans at the encampment at
Wetherby
Wetherby () is a market town and civil parish in the City of Leeds district, West Yorkshire, England, close to West Yorkshire county's border with North Yorkshire, and lies approximately from Leeds City Centre, from York and from Harrogat ...
matched horses against Arabian horses brought to England by Emperor
Septimius Severus
Lucius Septimius Severus (; 11 April 145 – 4 February 211) was Roman emperor from 193 to 211. He was born in Leptis Magna (present-day Al-Khums, Libya) in the Roman province of Africa. As a young man he advanced through the customary suc ...
. Traces of racecourses dating to the Roman occupation exist, but records are scarce.
The
Venerable Bede
Bede ( ; ang, Bǣda , ; 672/326 May 735), also known as Saint Bede, The Venerable Bede, and Bede the Venerable ( la, Beda Venerabilis), was an English monk at the monastery of St Peter and its companion monastery of St Paul in the Kingdom o ...
reports that the English began to saddle their horses about the year 631.
The earliest written mention of 'running-horses' is a record of Hugh, from the French
House of Capet
The House of Capet (french: Maison capétienne) or the Direct Capetians (''Capétiens directs''), also called the House of France (''la maison de France''), or simply the Capets, ruled the Kingdom of France from 987 to 1328. It was the most ...
, gifting some as a present to
King Athelstan
King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king.
*In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...
of England in the 9th/10th century. During Athelstan's reign a ban was placed on the export of English horses, such was supposed to be their superiority to continental ones. Continental ones were still permitted for import, and many were brought to England by
William the Conqueror
William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first House of Normandy, Norman List of English monarchs#House of Norman ...
.
Roger de Montgomerie, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury
Roger de Montgomery (died 1094), also known as Roger the Great, was the first Earl of Shrewsbury, and Earl of Arundel, in Sussex. His father was Roger de Montgomery, seigneur of Montgomery, a member of the House of Montgomerie, and was probably ...
introduced Spanish stallions to the country.
[
The first recorded race meetings were during the reign of Henry II at Smithfield, London, during the annual St Bartholomew's ]horse fair A horse fair is a (typically annual) fair where people buy and sell horses.
In the United Kingdom there are many fairs which are traditionally attended by Romani people and travellers who converge at the fairs to buy and sell horses, meet with fr ...
. The event is attested by William Fitzstephen
William Fitzstephen (also William fitz Stephen), (died c. 1191) was a cleric and administrator in the service of Thomas Becket. In the 1170s he wrote a long biography of Thomas Becket – the ''Vita Sancti Thomae'' (Life of St. Thomas).
Fitzsteph ...
writing at some time after 1174 and the poet Drayton.
During the Crusades
The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were ...
, horse-breeding improved and horseback contests were popular, but in the form of tournaments, rather than races. King John established a stud at Eltham
Eltham ( ) is a district of southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. It is east-southeast of Charing Cross, and is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. The three wards of E ...
, Kent and the Middle English
Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English ...
romance Sir Bevis of Hampton
Bevis of Hampton ( fro, Beuve(s) or or ; Anglo-Norman: ; it, Buovo d'Antona) or Sir Bevois, was a legendary English hero and the subject of Anglo-Norman, Dutch, French, English, Venetian,Hasenohr, 173–4. and other medieval metrical chivalr ...
has couplets which refer to races taking place in the time of Richard I
Richard I (8 September 1157 – 6 April 1199) was King of England from 1189 until his death in 1199. He also ruled as Duke of Normandy, Aquitaine and Gascony, Lord of Cyprus, and Count of Poitiers, Anjou, Maine, and Nantes, and was ...
.
For the next three centuries there are numerous records of Kings of England keeping 'running horses'. Edward III bought horses at £13 6s 8d each, and was also gifted two by the King of Navarre
This is a list of the kings and queens of Pamplona, later Navarre. Pamplona was the primary name of the kingdom until its union with Aragon (1076–1134). However, the territorial designation Navarre came into use as an alternative name in the ...
. The royal stud continued to grow throughout the reign of Henry VII.
16th Century
Records become more substantial during the time of Henry VIII. He passed a number of laws relating to the breeding of horses and also imported a large number of stallions
A stallion is a male horse that has not been gelded (castrated).
Stallions follow the conformation and phenotype of their breed, but within that standard, the presence of hormones such as testosterone may give stallions a thicker, "cresty" neck ...
and mares for breeding from Spain, Italy and the East. He kept a training establishment at Greenwich
Greenwich ( , ,) is a town in south-east London, England, within the ceremonial county of Greater London. It is situated east-southeast of Charing Cross.
Greenwich is notable for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich ...
and the stud at Eltham
Eltham ( ) is a district of southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. It is east-southeast of Charing Cross, and is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. The three wards of E ...
. and founded the Royal Paddock at Hampton Court
Hampton Court Palace is a Grade I listed royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, southwest and upstream of central London on the River Thames. The building of the palace began in 1514 for Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, the chie ...
, where he kept mares and a "Barb worth his weight in silver", which has been given to him by the Marquis of Mantua
The Marquisate or Margraviate of Mantua was a margraviate in Lombardy, Northern Italy. Constituted by the Capitani del popol, an administrative title used in Italy during the Middle Ages.
The Marquisate of Mantua began with Gianfrancesco I G ...
.
Formal race meetings began to be instigated too. It is believed that the first occurrence of a trophy being presented to the winner of a race was in 1512 by organisers of a fair in Chester and was a small wooden ball decorated with flower
A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechani ...
s. Meanwhile, the oldest horse race still in existence, the Kiplingcotes Derby was first run in 1519. The Carlisle Bell
The Carlisle Bell is a historic British flat horse race, first contested in 1599 and still run today. The race's name relates to the bells which were awarded to the winners of the race in the reign of Elizabeth I. These bel ...
s, reputedly the oldest sporting trophy in the world, were first competed for in the 16th century, in a race that still bears their name. One of the bells is inscribed "The sweftes horse thes bel tak" ("The swiftest horse takes this bell").
Racing was firmly established at Chester, the oldest surviving racecourse in England, by 1540. By the time of Elizabeth
Elizabeth or Elisabeth may refer to:
People
* Elizabeth (given name), a female given name (including people with that name)
* Elizabeth (biblical figure), mother of John the Baptist
Ships
* HMS ''Elizabeth'', several ships
* ''Elisabeth'' (sch ...
, the sport was a "common amusement". and the Queen herself is recorded as attending races on Salisbury Plain in the 1580s. as well as keeping up the paddocks at Hampton and founding her own at Blackheath. Racing in the Forest of Galtres
The royal Forest of Galtres was established by the Norman kings of England in North Yorkshire, to the north of the Ancient City of York, extending right to its very walls. The main settlement within the royal forest was the market village of Easi ...
dates to 1590., Leith Races were established by 1591, and at Doncaster
Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated in ...
by 1595.
17th century
During Elizabeth's reign, interest in horse racing appears to have waned, for reasons unrecorded, but this changed when in 1605, James I James I may refer to:
People
*James I of Aragon (1208–1276)
*James I of Sicily or James II of Aragon (1267–1327)
*James I, Count of La Marche (1319–1362), Count of Ponthieu
*James I, Count of Urgell (1321–1347)
*James I of Cyprus (1334–13 ...
discovered the little village of Newmarket whilst out hawking
Hawking may refer to:
People
* Stephen Hawking (1942–2018), English theoretical physicist and cosmologist
* Hawking (surname), a family name (including a list of other persons with the name)
Film
* ''Hawking'' (2004 film), about Stephen Ha ...
or riding. He began to spend time there racing horses, and from then on it has been known as the home of horse racing in England. In fact, James spent so much time there that the House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...
petitioned him to concentrate more of his time on running the country. The region has had a long association with horses going back to the time of Boudica and the Iceni
The Iceni ( , ) or Eceni were a Brittonic tribe of eastern Britain during the Iron Age and early Roman era. Their territory included present-day Norfolk and parts of Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, and bordered the area of the Corieltauvi to the we ...
. The first recorded race there was a match for £100 between horses owned by Lord Salisbury
Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury (; 3 February 183022 August 1903) was a British statesman and Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom three times for a total of over thirteen y ...
and Marquess of Buckingham
Marquess of Buckingham may refer to:
* George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham (1592–1628) Marquess of Buckingham from 1618 until elevated to Duke of Buckingham in 1623
* George Nugent-Temple-Grenville, 1st Marquess of Buckingham (1753–1813), ...
in 1622, and the racecourse was founded in 1636.
Chester continued to be a centre of the sport and by 1609 there are records of the St George's race being run five time round the "Roody" for a prize of silver bells and a sum of money. The first known Rules of Racing
Rule or ruling may refer to:
Education
* Royal University of Law and Economics (RULE), a university in Cambodia
Human activity
* The exercise of political or personal control by someone with authority or power
* Business rule, a rule perta ...
date from Kiplingcotes in 1619. Race meetings began to spring up elsewhere in the country. Races were run for silver bells at Gatherley, near Richmond in Yorkshire, Croydon
Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensi ...
and Theobalds
Theobalds House (also known as Theobalds Palace) in the parish of Cheshunt in the English county of Hertfordshire, was a significant stately home and (later) royal palace of the 16th and early 17th centuries. Set in extensive parkland, it was a r ...
on Enfield Chase
Enfield Chase is an area of Enfield that is named for a former royal hunting ground. Much of the former area of the Chase has been developed, but a large part survives between Cockfosters in the west and Enfield in the east as Trent Country ...
. Jockey weights began to be measured and rigorously enforced, and formal training of horses took place, paying attention to food and exercise.
James VI and I
James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until ...
encouraged the sport. Some of the Spanish horses that ended up in Galloway
Galloway ( ; sco, Gallowa; la, Gallovidia) is a region in southwestern Scotland comprising the historic counties of Wigtownshire and Kirkcudbrightshire. It is administered as part of the council area of Dumfries and Galloway.
A native or ...
after the wrecking of the Spanish Armada were kept by local people and raced against the King's own horses when he was in Ireland. They proved better than the King's and were bought for the royal stables. The King supported several meetings, even acting as Clerk of the Course at Lincoln
Lincoln most commonly refers to:
* Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States
* Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England
* Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S.
* Lincol ...
in 1607 and built a house at Newmarket as a hunting lodge and so he could enjoy the racing there. Private match races between gentlemen, riding their own horses, rather than using hired jockeys as became the norm later, became commons.
Around the time that Charles I of England
Charles I (19 November 1600 – 30 January 1649) was King of England, Scotland, and Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. He was born into the House of Stuart as the second son of King James VI of Scotland, but after hi ...
came to the throne
A throne is the seat of state of a potentate or dignitary, especially the seat occupied by a sovereign on state occasions; or the seat occupied by a pope or bishop on ceremonial occasions. "Throne" in an abstract sense can also refer to the mona ...
, Spring and Autumn race meetings were introduced to Newmarket and in 1634 the first Gold Cup event was held. Charles gave a 100 guinea silver cup to be raced for at Hyde Park, and instituted a silver plate at Newmarket. Meetings at Stamford and Epsom
Epsom is the principal town of the Borough of Epsom and Ewell in Surrey, England, about south of central London. The town is first recorded as ''Ebesham'' in the 10th century and its name probably derives from that of a Saxon landowner. The ...
were now well established.
All horse racing was then banned in 1654 by Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English politician and military officer who is widely regarded as one of the most important statesmen in English history. He came to prominence during the 1639 to 1651 Wars of the Three K ...
, and many horses were requisitioned by the state. Despite this Cromwell himself kept a stud running of his own. With the restoration
Restoration is the act of restoring something to its original state and may refer to:
* Conservation and restoration of cultural heritage
** Audio restoration
** Film restoration
** Image restoration
** Textile restoration
* Restoration ecology
...
of Charles II racing flourished and he instituted the Newmarket Town Plate
The Newmarket Town Plate is an historic British horse race which has been run in the town of Newmarket, Suffolk since 1665 or 1666. The race was instigated by King Charles II, who became the first and only reigning monarch to win a race in 1671. ...
in 1664, writing the rules himself:
William III founded a riding academy and gave plates to be ridden for in many parts of the country. Between 1695 and 1702, he ran his own horses at Newmarket, including in a 2000 guinea match against the Duke of Somerset
Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are rank ...
. The influential Tregonwell Frampton
Tregonwell Frampton (1641–12 March 1727) was an English racehorse trainer, known as 'the father of the turf.'
Life
Frampton was born in 1641 at Moreton, Dorset, the fifth son of William Frampton, lord of the manor of Moreton, by his wife, K ...
, known as the "Father of the Turf" was keeper of William's horses, and performed the same task for Queen Anne, George I George I or 1 may refer to:
People
* Patriarch George I of Alexandria (fl. 621–631)
* George I of Constantinople (d. 686)
* George I of Antioch (d. 790)
* George I of Abkhazia (ruled 872/3–878/9)
* George I of Georgia (d. 1027)
* Yuri Dolgor ...
and possibly Charles II and James II. He did much to improve the breed.
The three foundation sires of the modern thoroughbred, the Byerley Turk
The Byerley Turk (c. 1680 – c. 1703), also spelled Byerly Turk, was the earliest of three stallions that were the founders of the modern Thoroughbred horse racing bloodstock (the other two are the Godolphin Arabian and the Darley Arabian).Ahnert ...
, Darley Arabian
The Darley Arabian (foaled c. 1700) was one of three dominant foundation sires of modern Thoroughbred horse racing bloodstock. The other two founders were the Godolphin Arabian and the Byerley Turk. This bay Arabian horse was bought in Aleppo, ...
and Godolphin Barb were imported to England in the late 17th and early 18th centuries and founded the lines which can be traced down to every modern thoroughbred racehorse. At this point, they weren't the only influential sires. Others, including the grey Barb donated by the King to a Mr Hutton, and known as Hutton's Grey Barb contributed importantly to the breed.
The improvement of the breed was not purely for sporting purposes though. Warfare and conquest were also factors. As Whyte noted, "to the excellence of the British horse... may be ascribed much of our superiority over other nations, both in commerce and in war."
18th century
In the early 18th century, Queen Anne kept a large string of horses and was instrumental in the founding of Royal Ascot where the opening race each year is still called the Queen Anne Stakes
The Queen Anne Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to horses aged four years or older. It is run at Ascot over a distance of 1 mile (1,609 metres), and is scheduled to take pl ...
. The first published account of race results was John Cheney's ''Historical list of all the Horse Matches run, and all plates and prizes run for in England and Wales'' which dates to 1727. The Weatherby family succeeded Cheney as the keepers of the most complete set of racing records, and in a later work which came into their possession, published in York
York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...
in 1748, the result is recorded of a race run in September 1709 on Clifton and Rawcliffe Ings, near York, for a gold cup of £50.
In 1740, Parliament
In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...
introduced an act "to restrain and to prevent the excessive increase in horse racing"; this was largely ignored and in the 1750 the Jockey Club was formed to create and apply the Rules of Racing
Rule or ruling may refer to:
Education
* Royal University of Law and Economics (RULE), a university in Cambodia
Human activity
* The exercise of political or personal control by someone with authority or power
* Business rule, a rule perta ...
. However, until the 1760s, individual horses seldom ran more than five or six times, due to the scarcity of prizes on offer, but this began to change with major race meetings expanding the prizes on offer. Newmarket and York led the way in this.
Races were still generally for mature horses, and were typically run in matches, or in best-of-three heats over long distances.
Three-year-old races were first run in 1731 and two-year-olds raced for the first time at Newmarket in 1769. In 1791, Cash became the first yearling
Yearling may refer to:
*Yearling (horse), a horse between one and two years old
*''The Yearling
''The Yearling'' is a novel by American writer Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, published in March 1938. It was the main selection of the Book of the Mo ...
to race, and beat a three-year-old in a match at Newmarket, in receipt of 3 stones.
Newmarket itself continued to grow as a centre of racing and many of the racecourse's historic meetings (with persist to this day) were established in the 1760s and 1770s.
By the end of the century the 12th Earl of Derby and Sir Charles Bunbury were key influencers in the sport. Under their auspices the Derby
Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby g ...
and Oaks were established at Epsom
Epsom is the principal town of the Borough of Epsom and Ewell in Surrey, England, about south of central London. The town is first recorded as ''Ebesham'' in the 10th century and its name probably derives from that of a Saxon landowner. The ...
, inspired by the St Leger
The St Leger Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies. It is run at Doncaster over a ...
and the growing popularity of shorter races, for younger horses. These races, along with the Leger and the Guineas
The guinea (; commonly abbreviated gn., or gns. in plural) was a coin, minted in Great Britain between 1663 and 1814, that contained approximately one-quarter of an ounce of gold. The name came from the Guinea region in West Africa, from where m ...
at Newmarket (which were established early in the 19th century) became known as the Classics.
At around the same time, jockeys began to earn a reputation in their own right, with early pioneers including Frank Buckle, Sam Chifney Sr and Jem Robinson
James Robinson (1794–1873) was a British Jockey. In a riding career which lasted until 1852 he rode the winners of 24 British Classic Races. His six wins in The Derby set a record which was not surpassed until Lester Piggott won his sevent ...
.
19th century
Interest in the sport was at a high throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. As Whyte's History of the English Turf noted in 1840, "For nearly a century and a half, the "Turf" has formed a favourite amusement of "Kings, Lords and Commons". Or as Rice's History reported in 1879, "for some two hundred years the pursuit of Horse-racing has been attractive to more of our countrymen than any other out-door pastime" Other traditional rural sports, including hawking, shooting and hare-hunting, had much diminished by this period, due to enclosure
Enclosure or Inclosure is a term, used in English landownership, that refers to the appropriation of "waste" or " common land" enclosing it and by doing so depriving commoners of their rights of access and privilege. Agreements to enclose land ...
and "gradual refinement of manners" and racing was at its "acme".
Handicap races, in which horses are assigned weights to carry in proportion to their ability, became popular from the turn of the 19th century onwards. The first had been run at Ascot in 1791 and others followed. Many have persisted to this day including the Chester Cup (from 1824), Northumberland Plate (1833), Cesarewitch
The Cesarewitch Handicap is a flat handicap horse race in Great Britain open to horses aged three years or older. It is run at Newmarket over a distance of 2 miles and 2 furlongs (3,621 metres ...
and Cambridgeshire Handicap
The Cambridgeshire Handicap is a flat handicap horse race in Great Britain open to horses aged three years or older. It is run on the Rowley Mile at Newmarket over a distance of 1 mile and 1 furlo ...
s at Newmarket (both 1839), Goodwood's Stewards' Cup (1839), the Ebor at York (1843), the City and Suburban Handicap
The City and Suburban Handicap is a flat handicap horse race in Great Britain open to horses aged four years or older. It is run over a distance of 1 mile 2 furlongs and 17 yards (2,027 metres) at Epsom in April duri ...
at Epsom
Epsom is the principal town of the Borough of Epsom and Ewell in Surrey, England, about south of central London. The town is first recorded as ''Ebesham'' in the 10th century and its name probably derives from that of a Saxon landowner. The ...
(1851) and the traditional opener for the flat racing season, the Lincoln
Lincoln most commonly refers to:
* Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States
* Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England
* Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S.
* Lincol ...
(1853).
Steeplechasing first became organised by Tom Colman at St Albans in the early 1830s. By the end of that decade, the Grand National
The Grand National is a National Hunt horse race held annually at Aintree Racecourse in Liverpool, England. First run in 1839, it is a handicap st ...
had been established at Aintree
Aintree is a village and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Merseyside, England. Historically in Lancashire, it lies between Walton and Maghull on the A59 road, north-east of Liverpool city centre, in North West England.
I ...
by William Lynn.
In 1875, Sandown Park
Sandown Park is a horse racing course and leisure venue in Esher, Surrey, England, located in the outer suburbs of London. It hosts 5 Grade One National Hunt races and one Group 1 flat race, the Eclipse Stakes. It regularly has horse rac ...
became the first racecourse to open a separate members' enclosure.
By the turn of the 20th century, it was said that "time has only strengthened and confirmed the national passion for the sport." Concerns over its moral effects were prevalent though. An interest in horse racing and the attendant gambling was described as the "offspring of a passion we should wish to disown", with a warning that "the modern turf is fast becoming the very manor of the worst".
20th century to date
In 1947 Hamilton Hamilton may refer to:
People
* Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname
** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland
** Lord Hamilt ...
hosted the first evening race meeting in the UK. Now Wolverhampton Racecourse
Wolverhampton Racecourse is a thoroughbred horse racing venue located in Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England. The track was the first to be floodlit in Britain and often holds meetings in the evening. The track surface has been Tapeta since ...
holds the most evening meetings, with nearly 50 a year.
The Jockey Club governed the sport until its governance role was handed to the British Horseracing Board, (formed in June 1993) and while the BHB became responsible for strategic planning, finance, politics, race planning, training and marketing, the Jockey Club continued to regulate the sport. In 2006 it formed the Horseracing Regulatory Authority to carry out the regulatory process whilst it focused on owning 13 racecourses and the gallops in Newmarket and Lambourn. In July 2007 the HRA merged with the BHB to form the British Horseracing Authority
The British Horseracing Authority, also known simply as the BHA, is the regulatory authority for horse racing in Great Britain.
It was formed on 31 July 2007, after the merger of the British Horseracing Board (BHB) and the Horseracing Regulato ...
.
Racecourses
There are 60 licensed racecourses in Great Britain, with a further two in Northern Ireland (Down Royal
Down Royal Racecourse is a horse racing venue near Lisburn in Northern Ireland. The most valuable race run there is the Ladbrokes Champion Chase, run at the Northern Ireland Festival of racing in November. The most valuable flat race to be run ...
and Downpatrick
Downpatrick () is a town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is on the Lecale peninsula, about south of Belfast. In the Middle Ages, it was the capital of the Dál Fiatach, the main ruling dynasty of Ulaid. Its cathedral is said to be the b ...
). Apart from Chelmsford City
Chelmsford City Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in Chelmsford, Essex, England. Currently members of they play at the Melbourne Stadium.
History Chelmsford
Chelmsford Football Club was established in 1878 by members of ...
and Ffos Las (which opened in 2009), all the courses date back to 1927 or earlier. The oldest is Chester Racecourse, which dates to the early 16th century.
Unlike some other countries, which include the United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
, racing in Britain usually takes place on turf. However, there are six courses which have all-weather tracks – Kempton Park, Lingfield, Southwell, Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton () is a city, metropolitan borough and administrative centre in the West Midlands, England. The population size has increased by 5.7%, from around 249,500 in 2011 to 263,700 in 2021. People from the city are called "Wulfrunians ...
, Chelmsford City
Chelmsford City Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in Chelmsford, Essex, England. Currently members of they play at the Melbourne Stadium.
History Chelmsford
Chelmsford Football Club was established in 1878 by members of ...
and Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to:
*Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England
*Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England
*Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...
. Southwell's surface
A surface, as the term is most generally used, is the outermost or uppermost layer of a physical object or space. It is the portion or region of the object that can first be perceived by an observer using the senses of sight and touch, and is ...
is Fibresand. Wolverhampton installed a Tapeta surface in August 2014, replacing the existing Polytrack; Newcastle converted its Gosforth Park flat racing turf track to a Tapeta course with the addition of a floodlit all-weather straight mile in May 2016. All flat racing at Newcastle now takes place on the Tapeta surface with a turf course retained solely for a winter programme of jumps racing. The other three British all-weather tracks are all Polytrack The track surface of a horse racing track refers to the material of which the track is made. There are three types of track surfaces used in modern horse racing. These are:
*Turf, the most common track surface in Europe
*Dirt, the most common trac ...
. Ireland has a single all-weather Polytrack course at Dundalk
Dundalk ( ; ga, Dún Dealgan ), meaning "the fort of Dealgan", is the county town (the administrative centre) of County Louth, Ireland. The town is on the Castletown River, which flows into Dundalk Bay on the east coast of Ireland. It is h ...
. Courses also vary wildly in layout. There are very few which are regular ovals, as is the typical layout of other countries like the United States. Each course has its own idiosyncrasies, and horses are known to be more suited to some tracks than others, hence the idiom " horses for courses."
There are two main operating groups of British racecourses – Jockey Club Racecourses
The Jockey Club is the largest commercial horse racing organisation in the United Kingdom. It owns 15 of Britain's famous racecourses, including Aintree, Cheltenham, Epsom Downs and both the Rowley Mile and July Course in Newmarket, among ...
, which runs fifteen courses, and Arena Racing Company
Arena Racing Company, also called ARC Racing and Leisure Group is a UK private company, created in 2012 by the merger of Arena Leisure and Northern Racing.
It owns and operates 16 racecourses in Great Britain, accounting for 39% of British rac ...
, which runs sixteen courses.
Important races and meetings
Flat
Britain is home to some of the world's most important flat races and race meetings. While ancient horse races like the Kiplingcotes Derby and Newmarket Town Plate
The Newmarket Town Plate is an historic British horse race which has been run in the town of Newmarket, Suffolk since 1665 or 1666. The race was instigated by King Charles II, who became the first and only reigning monarch to win a race in 1671. ...
are now mainly curiosities, there are many older races which retain modern relevance. The five British Classics – the 1,000 Guineas
The 1000 Guineas Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old fillies. It is run on the Rowley Mile at Newmarket over a distance of 1 mile (1,609 ...
, 2,000 Guineas
The 2000 Guineas Stakes is a Group 1 flat race in Great Britain open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies. It is run on the Rowley Mile at Newmarket over a distance of 1 mile (1,609 metres) and scheduled to take place each year a ...
, The Oaks, The Derby and the St. Leger – were founded in the late 18th and early 19th centuries and still represent the pinnacle of achievement for each generation of horses. The structure and distances of these races, if not the exact names, have been adopted by many other European horse racing authorities, such as Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
. Royal Ascot is the major flat racing festival in Europe and attracts horses from all over the world. The modern flat season in Britain now also climaxes with British Champions Day
British Champions Day is a thoroughbred horse race meeting held at Ascot Racecourse in October each year since 2011, which acts as the end of season highlight fixture of British flat racing. It is the culmination of the British Champions Series an ...
, a festival of championship races, also held at Ascot.
National Hunt
In National Hunt racing
In horse racing in the United Kingdom, France and Republic of Ireland, National Hunt racing requires horses to jump fences and ditches. National Hunt racing in the UK is informally known as "jumps" and is divided into two major distinct branches: ...
, the Cheltenham Festival
The Cheltenham Festival is a horse racing-based meeting in the National Hunt racing calendar in the United Kingdom, with race prize money second only to the Grand National. The four-day festival takes place annually in March at Cheltenham Ra ...
is the foremost jump racing festival in the world, and is an annual target for both British and Irish trainers. The festival hosts races such as the Cheltenham Gold Cup
The Cheltenham Gold Cup is a Grade 1 National Hunt horse race run on the New Course at Cheltenham Racecourse in England, over a distance of about 3 miles 2½ furlongs (3 ...
and Champion Hurdle, which are seen as the peak of their disciplines and over the years have been won by horses whose appeal has transcended the sport, including Kauto Star
Kauto Star (19 March 2000 – 29 June 2015) was a French-bred National Hunt champion racehorse trained by Paul Nicholls in Somerset and owned by Clive Smith. He was known for his versatility and longevity, being the only horse ever to be top ...
and Desert Orchid
Desert Orchid (11 April 1979 – 13 November 2006), known as ''Dessie'', was an English racehorse. The grey achieved a revered and esteemed status within National Hunt racing, where he was much loved by supporters for his front-running atta ...
. More widely known still is the Grand National
The Grand National is a National Hunt horse race held annually at Aintree Racecourse in Liverpool, England. First run in 1839, it is a handicap st ...
at Aintree
Aintree is a village and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Merseyside, England. Historically in Lancashire, it lies between Walton and Maghull on the A59 road, north-east of Liverpool city centre, in North West England.
I ...
, which despite being a very long and difficult race that is historically contested by a lower grade of horses than races at Cheltenham, has produced some of the sports equine superstars, like Red Rum
Red Rum (3 May 1965 – 18 October 1995) was a champion Thoroughbred steeplechaser. He achieved an unmatched historic treble when he won the Grand National in 1973, 1974 and 1977, and also came second in the two intervening years, 1975 ...
. It has an estimated global audience of 600 million viewers.
Major festivals
Media coverage
Newspapers
British horse racing is served by a daily, national newspaper, the '' Racing Post'', founded in 1986. This publication carries industry news, racecards for all British and Irish race meetings, tipping columns and betting
Gambling (also known as betting or gaming) is the wagering of something of value ("the stakes") on a random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy are discounted. Gambling thus requires three elem ...
information, as well as smaller sections on greyhound racing and general sport
Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, ...
. There are also dedicated weekly publications including '' Racing Plus'' and monthly magazines such as '' Thoroughbred Owner & Breeder''. In addition, there is a limited amount of racing coverage in broader equestrian magazines, such as ''Horse & Hound
''Horse & Hound'' is the oldest equestrian weekly magazine of the United Kingdom. Its first edition was published in 1884. The magazine contains horse industry news, reports from equestrian events, veterinary advice about caring for horses, and h ...
''. Many national dailies also carry racing news and information in their sports pages.
At various times in history, there has been more than one racing daily, and fierce rivalries have existed between them. For most of the 20th century, the '' Sporting Life'' and ''Sporting Chronicle
The ''Sporting Chronicle'', known colloquially as ''The Chron'', was a Manchester-based, daily, national horse racing newspaper which operated in Great Britain for 112 years until its closure in 1983 due to unsustainable losses (£5.8 million si ...
'' were the two competing papers, before the Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
-based ''Chronicle'' closed in 1983 due to debts and falling circulation. The ''Racing Post'' was founded in 1986 to fill the gap and challenge the ''Sporting Life'' monopoly that resulted and these two were rivals throughout the 80s and 90s. Ultimately, only the ''Post'' survived as the owners of the ''Sporting Life'', Trinity Mirror, closed the ''Life'' and took over the ''Racing Post'' trademark.
In the Victorian era, there was a wide range of sporting newspapers that carried racing news to a greater or lesser extent. These include ''Bell's Life in London
''Bell's Life in London, and Sporting Chronicle'' was an English weekly sporting paper published as a pink broadsheet between 1822 and 1886.
History
''Bell's Life'' was founded by Robert Bell, a London printer-publisher. Bell sold it to William I ...
'' (forerunner to the Sporting Life), ''The Sporting Times
''The Sporting Times'' (founded 1865, ceased publication 1932) was a weekly British newspaper devoted chiefly to sport, and in particular to horse racing. It was informally known as ''The Pink 'Un'', as it was printed on salmon-coloured pape ...
'' and '' The Sportsman'' (not to be confused with the short-lived 2006 newspaper of the same name). In 1840, ''Bell's Life'' is reported to compete with the '' Sunday Times'' as the two weekly turf newspapers. There were also four monthly magazines at that time – the ''Old Sporting Magazine'' (founded 1792), the ''New Sporting Magazine'' (founded 1824), the ''Sporting Review'' (founded 1837) and the ''Sportsman'' (stated to have originated in 1829, so not the same as the ''Sportsman'' above which was founded in 1865). However, coverage of horse racing in newspapers is believed to date as far back as the ''Evening English Chronicle'' in 1779.
Television
There are two dedicated horse racing channels on British digital television
Digital television (DTV) is the transmission of television signals using digital encoding, in contrast to the earlier analog television technology which used analog signals. At the time of its development it was considered an innovative adva ...
– Sky Sports Racing
Sky Sports Racing (formerly At The Races) is a British pay television channel devoted to horse racing. A joint venture between Sky Group and Arena Racing Company, it broadcasts coverage of domestic, European and international horse racing eve ...
(free to air) and Racing TV
Racing TV (formerly Racing UK) is a British television channel with 34 racecourses as shareholders and fixtures from 61 racecourses broadcast live on its output. As Racing UK grew several other business units and joint ventures were developed un ...
(subscription only). Daily broadcasts of British race meetings are split between the two according to contracts arranged by racecourses and racecourse owning groups. Saturday racing and key midweek festival meetings are also broadcast on terrestrial television by ITV. The channel broadcasts a Saturday afternoon programme of live racing, usually between 1.30pm and 4pm, and an hour-long weekly magazine show on Saturday mornings. The coverage is presented by Ed Chamberlin
Edward Alan Chamberlin (born 6 February 1974) is an English sports broadcaster who has been working for ITV since January 2017.
Presenting career
Chamberlin was born in Shepton Mallet, Somerset. As a boy he attended Ludgrove School, where he ...
and Oli Bell with AP McCoy
Sir Anthony Peter McCoy (born 4 May 1974), commonly known as AP McCoy or Tony McCoy, is a Northern Irish former National Hunt horse racing jockey. Based in Ireland and the UK, McCoy rode a record 4,358 winners, and was Champion Jockey a reco ...
, Alice Plunkett, Mick Fitzgerald
Michael Fitzgerald (born 10 May 1970) is a retired Irish National Hunt jockey and current television racing pundit. Fitzgerald rode for the majority of his career in Great Britain and less often Ireland.
Career as a Jockey
Mick Fitzgerald's ca ...
and Francesca Cumani. 60 days of racing are shown on ITV4
ITV4 is a British free-to-air television channel which was launched on 1 November 2005. It is owned by ITV Digital Channels, a division of ITV plc, and is part of the ITV network. The channel has a line-up that consists of sports, cult classic ...
, and 40 days of racing are shown on ITV.
ITV had previously shown horse racing since its first weeks on air in 1955, and in the 1970s it provided an alternative to BBC coverage with the ITV Seven which featured as part of the channel's '' World of Sport'' programme. This lasted until the early 1980s, when coverage was gradually transferred to Channel 4. Prior to 2017, ITV had not shown any horse racing since 1988.
For many years, racing was also broadcast on the BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
, who pioneered coverage of the sport in the 1950s. The network retained the rights to key race meetings, such as the Grand National, Royal Ascot and the Derby until 2012 when it was outbid for the rights by Channel 4.
The BBC broadcast some of the key moments in the history of British horse racing, such as
Red Rum
Red Rum (3 May 1965 – 18 October 1995) was a champion Thoroughbred steeplechaser. He achieved an unmatched historic treble when he won the Grand National in 1973, 1974 and 1977, and also came second in the two intervening years, 1975 ...
winning his third
Grand National
The Grand National is a National Hunt horse race held annually at Aintree Racecourse in Liverpool, England. First run in 1839, it is a handicap st ...
and the 1967 victory of
Foinavon
Foinavon (1958–1971) was an Irish racehorse. He won the Grand National in 1967 at odds of 100/1 after the rest of the field fell, refused or were hampered or brought down in a mêlée at the 23rd fence. The fence was officially named afte ...
in the same race after most of the field fell at the same fence.
Channel 4's covered the sport for more than 30 years. Initially it showed the midweek events which were previously shown on ITV but from late 1985 it covered all of the racing previously shown by ITV. Between 2013 and 2016, Channel 4 was the exclusive home of horse racing on terrestrial television. The last day of ''
Channel 4 Racing'' was on 27 December 2016.
As with other sports, many of the people who have presented racing on TV through the years have become inseparably linked with racing in the public consciousness. Foremost among these for many years was the BBC's
Sir Peter O'Sullevan, known as 'the voice of racing', who commentated on 50 Grand Nationals.
Channel 4's most recognisable racing figure was
John McCririck
John Michael McCririck (17 April 1940 – 5 July 2019) was an English horse racing pundit, television personality and journalist.
McCririck began his career at '' The Sporting Life'', where he twice won at the British Press Awards for his camp ...
, famed for his eccentric dress sense and use of the
bookmaker
A bookmaker, bookie, or turf accountant is an organization or a person that accepts and pays off bets on sporting and other events at agreed-upon odds.
History
The first bookmaker, Ogden, stood at Newmarket in 1795.
Range of events
Bookm ...
s' sign language '
tic-tac
Tic-tac (also tick-tack and non-hyphenated variants) is a traditional method of signs used by bookmakers to communicate the odds of certain horses. Until the turn of the 21st century it was a very common sight on racecourses in the UK, but with ...
'. Other notable presenters of Channel 4's coverage included
Derek Thompson,
John Francome
John Francome (born 13 December 1952) is a retired 7 time British Champion Jump Jockey.
In addition to being a successful jockey, Francome was previously a racing trainer, broadcaster with Channel 4 and an author.
Racing career
Francome fir ...
,
John Oaksey
John Geoffrey Tristram Lawrence, 4th Baron Trevethin and 2nd Baron Oaksey (21 March 1929 – 5 September 2012) was a British aristocrat, horse racing journalist, television commentator and former amateur jockey. He was twice British Champion ...
and
Brough Scott
John Brough Scott, MBE (born 12 December 1942) is a British horse racing journalist, radio and television presenter, and former jockey. He is also the grandson and biographer of the noted Great War soldier "Galloper Jack" Seely.
Scott was ed ...
.
Clare Balding transferred from the BBC in 2013 to become lead presenter.
Betting
Wagering money on horse races is as old as the sport itself, but in the United Kingdom the links between horse racing and nationwide wagering are very strong. Betting shops are common sights in most towns, tending to be sited wherever a significant number of people with disposable cash can be expected. At one point in the 1970s it was said that the ideal location was "close to a pub, the Labour Exchange and the Post Office", the first being a source of customers in a good mood, the other two being sources of ready cash in the form of "
the dole
Unemployment benefits, also called unemployment insurance, unemployment payment, unemployment compensation, or simply unemployment, are payments made by authorized bodies to unemployed people. In the United States, benefits are funded by a comp ...
" and state pension money, which was dispensed through
Post Office
A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional ser ...
s at the time.
As early as 1938, £500,000,000 was being gambled on horse racing in England according to the Christian Social Council Committee on Gambling.
However, betting shops were not legalised until 1960,
at which time many of the famous British betting shop chains such as
William Hill,
Ladbrokes
Ladbrokes Coral is a British gambling company founded in 1886. Its product offering includes sports betting, online casino, online poker, and online bingo. The business is split into two divisions, UK and International. UK operations are c ...
and
Corals
Corals are marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. Coral species include the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and secr ...
were legally established on the high street. Previously betting was either on course, via certain credit betting offices, or illegally conducted often in or around
public houses
A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...
, with 'bookies runners' ferrying the bets from bookmaker to client.
Betting is taxed under the authority of various acts of
Parliament
In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...
. A
gross profit tax is levied on all UK based bookmakers which is payable to the
exchequer
In the civil service of the United Kingdom, His Majesty’s Exchequer, or just the Exchequer, is the accounting process of central government and the government's '' current account'' (i.e., money held from taxation and other government revenu ...
, and a separate sum is agreed and collected by the
Horserace Betting Levy Board
The Horserace Betting Levy Board (HBLB), commonly abbreviated to the Levy Board, is a non-departmental public body of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport in the United Kingdom. It is a statutory body established by the Betting Le ...
, a
non-departmental public body
In the United Kingdom, non-departmental public body (NDPB) is a classification applied by the Cabinet Office, Treasury, the Scottish Government and the Northern Ireland Executive to public sector organisations that have a role in the process of ...
of the
Department for Culture, Media and Sport
, type = Department
, logo = Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport logo.svg
, logo_width =
, logo_caption =
, seal =
, seal_width =
, seal_caption =
, picture = Gove ...
, who use the funds for race prize money and the improvement of horse racing. For the latest year reported, the levy resulted in £103.5 million being collected.
Member of Parliament
Clement Freud
Sir Clement Raphael Freud (24 April 1924 – 15 April 2009) was a German-born British broadcaster, writer, politician and chef.
The son of Ernst L. Freud and grandson of Sigmund Freud, Clement moved to the United Kingdom from Nazi Germany as ...
, who himself had owned racehorses, alleged in an article published in the 1970s, before his election to Parliament, that horse racing was organized purely to generate taxes. He cited the large number of otherwise non-viable racecourses kept open (to ensure sufficient races being run) even as the financial rewards to the owners and trainers declined to the point where most could barely cover their expenses.
On 6 October 2001, the Government abolished the turnover-based tax on betting, which had been 9% of the stake or the winnings, the punter having the choice to pay a certain small amount or an uncertain large amount. The tax, now based on gross profit, is now effectively indirectly levied on the punters, the cost being absorbed in the odds that bookmakers offer.
The last 10 years in the UK has seen massive growth in online gambling. Punters are now going online to place their bets, where technology gives them access to a greater wealth of information and knowledge. Now racing punters exchange information on online forums, tipping sites etc. For example, over 200,000 people are set to participate in the next Cheltenham festivals.
Key people
Jockeys
In the early days of British horse racing, owners tended to ride their own horses in races. This practice died out as racing became more organised and the owners, most of them aristocrats, had grooms ride the horses instead. Jockeys at this time were often scruffy and unkempt and not well-regarded. The 19th century racing chronicler, Nimrod, referred to the "costume" of the jockeys of the previous century as "deformity personified". Nevertheless, several Yorkshire-based jockeys became acclaimed in the mid-to-late 18th century. These included John Mangle, Bill Pierse,
John Shepherd, three different individuals named
John Singleton
John Daniel Singleton (January 6, 1968 April 28, 2019) was an American director, screenwriter, and producer. He made his feature film debut writing and directing '' Boyz n the Hood'' (1991), for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for ...
, Ben Smith and
Bill Clift. Between them they won many of the early runnings of the oldest classic, the St. Leger. Their counterparts in the south became similarly celebrated, and exercised a similar dominance over the Newmarket classics. Amongst their number were
Sam Chifney,
Jem Robinson
James Robinson (1794–1873) was a British Jockey. In a riding career which lasted until 1852 he rode the winners of 24 British Classic Races. His six wins in The Derby set a record which was not surpassed until Lester Piggott won his sevent ...
, the Arnull family –
John
John is a common English name and surname:
* John (given name)
* John (surname)
John may also refer to:
New Testament
Works
* Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John
* First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John
* Secon ...
,
Sam and
Bill
Bill(s) may refer to:
Common meanings
* Banknote, paper cash (especially in the United States)
* Bill (law), a proposed law put before a legislature
* Invoice, commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer
* Bill, a bird or animal's beak
Plac ...
– and "the first man to bring respectability to the profession" –
Frank Buckle.
The 19th century was dominated by three jockeys –
Nat Flatman
Elnathan "Nat" Flatman (1810 – 20 August 1860), born Holton St. Mary, Suffolk, was the first Champion flat racing jockey of Great Britain. He began his thirty-four-year racing career as an apprentice jockey at age fifteen and by 1840 he was t ...
,
George Fordham and
Fred Archer Fred or Frederick Archer may refer to:
* Fred Archer (jockey) (1857–1886), English jockey
* Fred R. Archer (1889–1963), photographer and co-inventor of the photographic Zone System
* Frederick Scott Archer (1813–1857), inventor of the photogr ...
– who between them won forty flat jockeys' championships. With the expansion of print media and the growth of interest in horse racing among ordinary people, these jockeys became nationally recognised figures, with a profile enjoyed by the footballers and TV celebrities of today. When Archer died at his own hand, it is said:
The high profile of jockeys at this time is illustrated (literally) by the number of caricatures of jockeys that feature in Victorian society magazine, ''
Vanity Fair'', alongside
Members of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
(MPs),
aristocrats
Aristocracy (, ) is a form of government that places strength in the hands of a small, privileged ruling class, the aristocrats. The term derives from the el, αριστοκρατία (), meaning 'rule of the best'.
At the time of the word' ...
and other national figures.
Three figures dominate the flat racing scene of the 20th century too –
Steve Donoghue,
Gordon Richards and
Lester Piggott
Lester Keith Piggott (5 November 1935 – 29 May 2022) was an English professional jockey and trainer. With 4,493 career flat racing wins in Britain, including a record nine Epsom Derby victories, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest ...
. Richards is often regarded as the greatest jockey ever
[
] and set many records which still stand, including most flat race victories and most flat jockey championships. Piggott is descended from the great
racing families of the 19th century, the Days and the Cannons.
In the modern day,
Frankie Dettori
Lanfranco Dettori (; born 15 December 1970), better known as Frankie Dettori, is an Italian horse racing jockey based in the United Kingdom. Dettori has been British flat racing Champion Jockey three times and has ...
is the jockey with the widest public profile beyond racing, appearing on
Celebrity Big Brother
''Big Brother VIP'', is an adaptation of the '' Big Brother'' reality television series. It is the celebrity version of its parent franchise ''Big Brother'', the celebrity version airs in several countries, however, the housemates or houseguest ...
and launching his own food range. He has also gained public attention for his feats on the racetrack, including his 'Magnificent Seven' wins at Ascot in 1997 and three jockeys' championships.
Kieren Fallon
Kieren Francis Fallon (born 22 February 1965 in Crusheen, County Clare, Ireland) is a retired Irish professional flat racing jockey and was British Champion Jockey six times.
Career
Stable jockey to Henry Cecil
I ...
was a regular champion around the turn of the century, and younger jockeys to have won multiple championships include
Ryan Moore and current champion
Oisin Murphy
Oisin Murphy (born 6 September 1995) is an Irish jockey based in the United Kingdom who competes in flat racing. He has won a British Classic Races, British Classic and a number of Group races, Group 1 races. He was British flat racing Cham ...
.
Hayley Turner
Hayley Turner (born 3 January 1983) is an English jockey who competes in flat racing. Originally from Nottingham, she is based in Newmarket.
In 2008 Turner became the first woman to ride 100 UK flat race winners during a calendar year. She ...
came to prominence as the first British woman to win a
Group 1 race outright and as
Champion Apprentice in 2005, and more recently
Hollie Doyle
Hollie Doyle (born 11 October 1996) is a British jockey who competes in flat racing. She set a new record for winners ridden in a British season by a female jockey in 2019. The following year, she came fourth in the Flat Jockeys' Championship ...
has broken several of Turner's records and been nominated for
BBC Sports Personality of the Year
The BBC Sports Personality of the Year is an awards ceremony that takes place annually in December. Devised by Paul Fox in 1954, it originally consisted of just one, the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award. Several new awards have been ...
.
Historically, jumps jockeys have not had the same profile as their flat counterparts, but this changed to some extent in the 20th century. The large television audience enjoyed by the Grand National has helped in this regard. Previously unknown jockeys like 2013 winner
Ryan Mania have received their first nationwide coverage as a result of the race.
The most-celebrated jumps jockey of all-time is the
Northern Irish
Northern Irish people is a demonym for all people born in Northern Ireland or people who are entitled to reside in Northern Ireland without any restriction on their period of residence. Most Northern Irish people either identify as Northern ...
man
Tony McCoy
Sir Anthony Peter McCoy (born 4 May 1974), commonly known as AP McCoy or Tony McCoy, is a Northern Irish former National Hunt horse racing jockey. Based in Ireland and the UK, McCoy rode a record 4,358 winners, and was Champion Jockey a reco ...
, winner of every
Jumps Jockeys' Championship from 1995/96 until 2014/15 and the only horse racing figure to ever win the BBC Sports Personality of the Year. He broke Gordon Richards' record for most winners in a season in 2001/02 and his total number of career wins by the time he retired was 4,358, well eclipsing the numbers set by
Peter Scudamore
Peter Scudamore MBE (born 29 June 1958), often known as 'Scu', is a former jockey and trainer in National Hunt racing. He was an eight-time Champion Jockey (including one title shared with John Francome), riding 1,678 winning horses in his c ...
and
Richard Dunwoody
Thomas Richard Dunwoody MBE (born 18 January 1964 in Belfast, Northern Ireland) is a retired British jockey in National Hunt racing. He was a three-time Champion Jockey.
Racing career
Dunwoody's race victories include the King George VI Cha ...
who between them were the leading jumps jockeys of the 1980s and early 1990s.
Richard Johnson Richard or Dick Johnson may refer to:
Academics
* Dick Johnson (academic) (1929–2019), Australian academic
* Richard C. Johnson (1930–2003), professor of electrical engineering
* Richard A. Johnson, artist and professor at the University of ...
, who has been second to McCoy in nearly all of his championships has the second most wins jockey of all time, and gained
tabloid fame in the late 1990s for his relationship with
Zara Philips.
Former champion jump jockeys
Dick Francis
Richard Stanley Francis (31 October 1920 – 14 February 2010) was a British steeplechase jockey and crime writer whose novels centre on horse racing in England.
After wartime service in the RAF, Francis became a full-time jump-jockey, wi ...
and
John Francome
John Francome (born 13 December 1952) is a retired 7 time British Champion Jump Jockey.
In addition to being a successful jockey, Francome was previously a racing trainer, broadcaster with Channel 4 and an author.
Racing career
Francome fir ...
have become known to a wider public after enjoying second careers as writers of racing-based fiction, while Francome (until the end of 2012) and
Mick Fitzgerald
Michael Fitzgerald (born 10 May 1970) is a retired Irish National Hunt jockey and current television racing pundit. Fitzgerald rode for the majority of his career in Great Britain and less often Ireland.
Career as a Jockey
Mick Fitzgerald's ca ...
are known as horse racing TV pundits.
As of November 2017, there are around 450 professional jockeys licensed in the United Kingdom, along with around 300 amateur riders.
Trainers
Formal training of racehorses began to be common in the reign of James I.
The two dominant forces in modern day flat training in Britain in the modern era are Irish-based trainer
Aidan O'Brien
Aidan Patrick O'Brien (born 16 October 1969 in County Wexford, Ireland)[ Aidan O'Brien bio NTRA. ...](_blank)
and
Godolphin, through their trainers
Saeed Bin Suroor
Saeed bin Suroor (born 16 November 1968 in Dubai) is a horse racing trainer in Great Britain. He took out his training licence in 1993 and the following year was appointed as the trainer for Sheikh Mohammed's Godolphin operation.
He has been ...
and
Charlie Appleby. They largely concentrate on
Group races. Operating in much larger numbers of runners, but with a greater spread of quality, are trainers such as
Mark Johnston,
Richard Hannon Jr. and
Richard Fahey
Richard Fahey is a racehorse trainer, based in Malton, North Yorkshire. He has saddled over 60 Group race and Listed winners in the UK, Ireland, France and Canada. Group 1 winners include Perfect Power in the 2022 Commonwealth Cup and 2021 P ...
.
In the jumps sphere,
Nicky Henderson
Nicholas John Henderson (born 10 December 1950) is a British racehorse trainer. He has been British jump racing Champion Trainer six times.
Background
His father was Johnny Henderson who was one of the founders of the Racecourse Holdings Tru ...
and
Paul Nicholls dominate, along with the likes of
David Pipe
David Ronald Pipe (born 5 November 1983) is a Welsh former professional footballer who played as a midfielder or full-back.
Club career
Born in Caerphilly, Wales, Pipe began his career in the youth system at Coventry City. He made his senior ...
,
Philip Hobbs,
Jonjo O'Neill and
Dan Skelton. In recent years, the Irish trainer
Willie Mullins
William Peter Mullins (born 15 September 1956) is an Irish racehorse trainer and former jockey.
Career
He commenced racehorse training in 1988 having previously worked as an assistant to his father Paddy Mullins and Jim Bolger. Willie is a fo ...
has enjoyed huge success in Britain, coming close to taking the Trainers Championship in 2015/16.
Owners
Aristocratic families have always owned horses in Britain and the list of Classic winners features names such as the
Earl of Grafton
Earl () is a rank of the nobility in the United Kingdom. The title originates in the Old English word ''eorl'', meaning "a man of noble birth or rank". The word is cognate with the Scandinavian form ''jarl'', and meant "chieftain", particular ...
,
Earl Grosvenor
Earl () is a rank of the nobility in the United Kingdom. The title originates in the Old English word ''eorl'', meaning "a man of noble birth or rank". The word is cognate with the Scandinavian form ''jarl'', and meant "chieftain", particular ...
and
Earl of Egremont
Earl of Egremont was a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1749, along with the subsidiary title Baron of Cockermouth, in Cumberland, for Algernon Seymour, 7th Duke of Somerset, with remainder to his nephews Sir Charles Wy ...
from early days. In the modern era, the
Queen
Queen or QUEEN may refer to:
Monarchy
* Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom
** List of queens regnant
* Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king
* Queen dowager, the widow of a king
* Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...
continues to retain a stable of horses trained by the likes of
Michael Stoute
Sir Michael Ronald Stoute (born 22 October 1945) is a Barbadian British Thoroughbred horse trainer in flat racing.
Career
Stoute, whose father was the Chief of Police for Barbados, left the island in 1964 at the age of 19 to become an assis ...
.
The Queen Mother
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
was famously keen on horse racing and a race at the
Cheltenham Festival
The Cheltenham Festival is a horse racing-based meeting in the National Hunt racing calendar in the United Kingdom, with race prize money second only to the Grand National. The four-day festival takes place annually in March at Cheltenham Ra ...
, the
Queen Mother Champion Chase
The Queen Mother Champion Chase is a Grade 1 National Hunt steeplechase in Great Britain which is open to horses aged five years or older. As part of a sponsorship agreement with the onl ...
, is named in her honour.
The two most prominent flat owners of the current era are Sheikh Mohammed, under the
Godolphin banner and the team of
Michael Tabor
Michael Barry Tabor (born 28 October 1941) is a British businessman, bookmaker, gambler and owner of thoroughbred racehorses.
Tabor regularly appears on the ''Sunday Times Rich List'' of the richest people in Britain. In 2012 his fortune w ...
,
John Magnier
John Magnier (born 10 February 1948; also known as "The Boss") is an Irish business magnate. He is Ireland's leading thoroughbred stud owner and has extensive business interests outside the horse-breeding industry.
Magnier has also been a Sena ...
and others, based in Ireland.
Prominent jumps owners include
JP McManus,
Graham Wylie and
Trevor Hemmings
Trevor James Hemmings (11 June 1935 – 11 October 2021) was a British billionaire businessman.
Early life
Hemmings was born in Woolwich, London, the son of a Royal Ordnance factory worker father. During the Second World War, part of the Roya ...
Administrators
Modern-day racing originated in Britain, so many figures from British racing have shaped the sport.
Admiral Rous
Admiral The Honourable Henry John Rous (23 January 1795 – 19 June 1877) was an officer of the British Royal Navy, who served during the Napoleonic Wars, and was later a Member of Parliament and a leading figure in horse racing.
Biography
Famil ...
established the
handicapping process for
horse racing, including the
weight-for-age
{{use dmy dates, date=October 2022
Weight for Age (WFA) is a term in thoroughbred horse racing which is one of the conditions for a race.
History
The principle of WFA was developed by Admiral Rous, a handicapper with the English Jockey Club. Rous ...
scale, while in the 20th century, form expert and some time administrator of the sport,
Phil Bull
Phil Bull (9 April 1910 – 11 June 1989), born West Yorkshire, England, was a professional gambler, racehorse owner and publisher, who founded the Timeform private handicapping system for British horseracing. Since 1948, Timeform have produce ...
established
Timeform
Timeform is a sports data and content provider located in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. Founded in 1948, it provides systematic information on form to punters and others involved in the horse racing industry. The company was purchased by t ...
whose ratings are often used to assess the all-time great horses.
Key data
Key data for 2004, 2005 and 2010 extracted from the British Horseracing Board's annual reports for
2004an
2005 th
2010annual reportfrom its successor organisation, the British Horseracing Authority and th
2011/12British Horseracing Fact Book
The Chief Executive of the BHB stated in the 2005 annual report that "Success was achieved in an environment of great uncertainty." The sport is adapting to the loss of income from pre-race data following court ruling prohibiting the practice of charging for such in 2004 and 2005, to which the BHB attributes the fall in prize money in 2005. The data charges were themselves designed to replace income lost when a statutory levy was abolished. In 2004 attendances exceeded 6 million for the first time since the 1950s (2004 annual report). The decrease in 2005 is attributable to the closure of
Ascot Racecourse
Ascot Racecourse ("ascot" pronounced , often pronounced ) is a dual-purpose British racecourse, located in Ascot, Berkshire, England, which is used for thoroughbred horse racing. It hosts 13 of Britain's 36 annual Flat Group 1 horse races a ...
for redevelopment for the entire year.
Racehorse welfare
A 2006 investigation by ''
The Observer
''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the ...
'' found that each year 6–10,000 horses are slaughtered for consumption abroad, a significant proportion of which are horses bred for racing.
[
]
The industry produces approximately 5,000 foals, whilst 4–5,000 racehorses are retired each year, 90 being taken into care by the industries charity
Retraining of Racehorses.
Research conducted by the Equine Fertility Unit found that 66% of thoroughbred foals were never entered for a race, and more than 80% were no longer in training after four years.
Foal production has increased threefold since 1966.
Racehorses are capable of living for more than 30 years.
See also
*
Horse racing in Ireland
Horse racing in Ireland is intricately linked with Irish culture and society. The racing of horses has a long history on the island, being mentioned in some of the earliest texts. Domestically, racing is one of Ireland's most popular spectator ...
*
Horse racing in Scotland
*
Horse racing in Wales
*
List of significant families in British horse racing
*
British flat racing Champion Jockey
The Champion Jockey of flat racing in Great Britain is the jockey who has ridden the most winning horses during a season. The list below shows the Champion Jockey and the number of winners for each year since 1840. The seasonal record of jockeys' ...
*
British jump racing Champion Jockey
In Great Britain's National Hunt racing, the title of Champion Jockey is bestowed on the jockey who has ridden the most winning horses during a racing season. From its inception in 1900 through to 1925, the award was given to the jockey who had r ...
References
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
External links
Organisations
British Horseracing Authority
The Jockey ClubWeatherbysThe Racecourse AssociationThe Racehorse Owners AssociationThe Jockeys Association of Great BritainThe Amateur Jockeys Association of Great BritainNational Trainers FederationThoroughbred Breeders' AssociationRetraining of Racehorses WebsiteUK Horse Racing Forum & WebsiteMedia
BBC horseracing coverageThe Racing Post
Sporting Life
{{DEFAULTSORT:Horse racing In Great Britain