Where Did Horse Racing Originate? Discover The History

Horse racing is one of the most popular sports in the UK, second only to football, with between 5 and 6 million people attending races each year, and billions of pounds spent in horse racing betting.

But it’s also one of the oldest sports in the world. Humans have raced horses for as long as we’ve ridden them, with betting on racing going back pretty much as far.

So where and when did horse racing originate, and how did it become the multimillion-pound industry it is today? We’ve put together a brief history of horse racing, from the earliest races thousands of years ago to the televised events of the 21st century, and everything in between.

Domestication Of Horses, And The Beginnings Of Racing

The first human depictions of horses are cave paintings from as many as 30,000 years ago, although it’s most likely that these were wild horses, hunted for meat rather than ridden. Domestication came much later, although exactly when is disputed by archeologists. It’s believed currently that horses were first domesticated around 6,000 years ago, in the area north of the Black Sea that now encompasses parts of Ukraine, Russia and Kazakhstan.

When first domesticated, horses appear to have been kept for milk and meat, as cows and sheep are nowadays, rather than kept as working animals. From there, though, the use of horses spread across Eurasia, both for agricultural purposes and transportation.

We can’t be sure exactly when racing first began, but we do know that both chariot races and mounted races were held in the Olympics in Ancient Greece over 2500 years ago, and that horse racing was also well-established and well-organised in Ancient Rome.

In Britain, horse racing began in Mediaeval times as a simple demonstration of a horse’s speed, in the hope of tempting buyers. The first known racing purse was offered during the reign of Richard the Lionheart in the 12th century - prize money of £40 for a 3 mile race, which would be the equivalent of almost £70,000 today.

The Development Of The Modern Sport

Over the centuries that followed, horse racing gradually became more organised - as did gambling on racing. By the Tudor period, kings were importing horses, establishing studs and sponsoring meetings, indicating that organised horse racing was well-established, and in the 17th century, rules surrounding races began to be formalised.

For a brief period in the 17th century, during the rule of Oliver Cromwell, horse racing was banned entirely, along, famously, with Christmas. The majority of horses were requisitioned by the state after the Civil War that brought Cromwell to power, dealing early racing horse breeders a severe blow.

Horse racing was revived with the return of the monarchy after Cromwell’s rule. Charles II (reigned 1660-85) is known as the ‘father of the turf’ for his role in the evolution of horse racing. He inaugurated the King’s Plates, the first races to specify the age of the horse and weight of the rider, and was instrumental in establishing Newmarket as the headquarters of English racing.

In France, meanwhile, racing based on gambling became wildly popular in the 17th and 18th centuries. In the late 18th century, Louis XVI organised a jockey club, and imposed racing rules by royal decree.

In the USA, organised racing began in New York in 1665, when a 2 mile course was laid at Long Island and named Newmarket, after the British course. Until the American Civil War, however, American racing differed in prizing stamina over speed - it was only after the Civil War that speed became king, following the European example.

Royalty And Horse Racing

Horse racing has been associated with royalty for centuries, largely because horses themselves have always been extremely expensive to buy and maintain, meaning only the very wealthiest in society could afford to own them.

Elizabeth I was unusual among monarchs in displaying little interest in racing, but her successor, James I, revived royal involvement in the sport.

In the 18th century, Queen Anne, the niece of Charles II, had extensive stables, and frequently attended races in which her horses competed. Her greatest legacy is the founding of Ascot, perhaps the most famous racecourse in the world, whose first race, the Queen Anne Stakes, still bears her name.

Later in the century, the Prince of Wales, who would become King George IV, became the first member of the royal family to win one of the Classic horseraces. When George was king, he founded the royal enclosure at Ascot, and also began Ascot’s tradition of the royal procession.

Queen Victoria was rather less of a fan of racing. She attended only one Derby, refused to attend the races in the year of her Golden Jubilee, and actively discouraged her son, later to become Edward VII, from getting involved in the sport. Despite this, she still managed to be one of the most successful breeders of racing horses of the 19th century.

Queen Elizabeth II, meanwhile, was famous for her love of horse racing. She took a keen interest in the breeding of her horses, and in their training, which certainly paid off - she’s believed to have earned close to £9 million in prize money over the years. When she died in 2022, she owned over 100 horses.

Horse Racing In The 21st Century

Horse racing may still be the second most popular sport in the UK, but it has nonetheless declined in recent years. Greater public awareness of welfare concerns has resulted in calls for improved safety measures to be put in place, and even for horse racing to be banned altogether.

Furthermore, with the advent of online gambling, there are far more sports available for people to bet on, meaning that horse racing’s importance for bettors is somewhat reduced. For many gamblers, there are better ways to stake their money - especially as there are so many variables that can affect races compared to other sports, with horses frequently being withdrawn at the last minute.

International Horse Racing

Horse racing occupies a unique position in the USA, as it enjoys an exemption from the federal anti-gambling laws that restrict wagering on other sports, and horse racing betting is sanctioned and regulated on a state by state basis. The Kentucky Derby, held every May, is perhaps the most significant race in the United States.

France is another country with a proud and extensive history of horse racing, and the sport is also popular in Australia, which hosts the richest turf race in the world - the Everest Race, which offers a purse of £11 million.

Hong Kong, despite being small, has a $6 billion dollar industry, and is the home of the Asian racing federation, which sets horse racing rules for the entire continent. Japan is another country with an outsized horse racing industry - it might come as a surprise to many to hear that, in terms of revenue, Japan’s is the biggest horse racing industry in the world.

Controversies

In recent years, horse racing has been marred by animal welfare controversies. There have been frequent fatalities in some events, steeplechase races such as the Grand National in particular, which has had an average of 25 equine fatalities per 1000 horses racing between 2018 and 2023.

Source: Wikipedia list of equine fatalities in the Grand National

There have also been scores of doping scandals, and a fair bit of fraud, but some scandals have been especially ambitious. We’ve rounded up a few of the most audacious attempted cons in horse racing history below.

Bait and Switch

In 1974, an Irish millionaire by the name of Tony Murphy came up with what seemed like the perfect plan. He arranged for an unknown horse, known as ‘Gay Future’, to be trained in the UK, where it showed itself to be a distinctly unpromising prospect. Based on its mediocre performance, the odds of it winning its race lengthened considerably.

However, this uninspiring horse was in fact a similar-looking imposter. Before the race, the real Gay Future, a horse of much greater ability, was brought over from Ireland, and the two were swapped in secret, in a lay-by on the M6. To divert suspicion, Murphy also entered two other horses, but pulled them from the race before it began, leaving only Gay Future and one other horse to run. To put people off betting on Gay Future, Murphy even had the horse’s legs covered in soap to make him look excessively sweaty.

Gay Future won by a mile, and Murphy’s scheme appeared to have gone off without a hitch, until a reporter discovered that the two horses that had been withdrawn had never even travelled to the racecourse. Upon further investigation the whole thing fell to pieces. Tony Murphy was convicted of attempted fraud, and he was barred from British racecourses for ten years.

Kidnap (horsenap?)

The Irish-bred racehorse Shergar was one of the most successful of the 1980s. Between 1980 and 1981, he ran in eight races, six of which he won, and set the record for the longest winning margin in the history of the Epsom Derby. After this run of success, he was retired to stud in Ireland, and valued at £10 million.

On the 3rd February 1983, Shergar was stolen at gunpoint by a gang of armed men, who went on to demand a £2 million ransom for his return. The syndicate that owned the horse did conduct negotiations for his release, but never received satisfactory proof that Shergar was still alive, and communications were abruptly cut off by the gang. Shergar was never seen again.

A former member of the IRA has claimed that the abduction was an IRA operation to raise funds, and that Shergar had panicked and was injured shortly after he was stolen, having to be killed as a result. Shergar’s body has never been recovered, however, and there were no arrests ever made in connection to the theft.

The Shergar Cup was inaugurated in 1999 in honour of its namesake. It first took place at Goodwood, but has been held at Ascot since 2000.

Spray painting

In a rather less accomplished attempt at a bait and switch, fraudsters ended up resorting to spray painting a horse in 1984. The plan had been a simple one. Australian John Gillespie acquired two horses with very similar markings, one, Fine Cotton, much inferior to the other, Dashing Solitaire, with the intention of running Dashing Solitaire in Fine Cotton’s place, likely to result in a win against all expectation.

The plan went wrong when Dashing Solitaire was injured and thus unable to run. Having already invested money, Gillespie and his fellow schemers decided to go ahead regardless, and purchased another, much less similar-looking horse, named Bold Personality. They used hair dye to attempt to disguise Bold Personality and, realising at the last minute that they’d forgotten to add in white markings on his hind legs, resorted to spray painting the marks on.

Unsurprisingly, the paint didn’t stay in place for long, and was already beginning to run by the time Bold Personality returned from winning the race. An investigation was launched and Bold Personality was disqualified - Gillespie meanwhile was sentenced to prison, and banned from Queensland’s racing clubs for life.

The Future Of Horse Racing?

The horse racing industry has suffered a notable decline in recent years. Racetracks have been closing, often to make way for housing, and overall attendance is down.

Racing is also, as a rule, not financially lucrative for the owners of racing horses. The majority of owners make very little in returns, especially when you take into account the costs of acquiring and training horses, and of stables, food and veterinary care. This makes it relatively unlikely that those other than the independently wealthy would seriously consider owning.

Despite these gloomy signs, though, many are optimistic about the future of the racing industry. Plenty of industry experts believe the downturn is only temporary, exacerbated by Covid and the current cost of living crisis, and not a sign of irreversible decline. They point to the fact that the highest profile events are still wildly popular, with increasing numbers of people keen to take part in the experience of dressing up for a day at the races.

Horse racing may have changed almost beyond recognition in the thousands of years since it began, but in essence it’s a sport that people continue to love to watch, and gamble on. And despite the challenges it faces, it doesn’t look as though it’s going anywhere any time soon.