UK Horse Racing History
Horse racing is an increasingly popular gambling sport in the UK and Europe. Horse racing in the UK has been around in the sports world for nearly two hundred and fifty years! It all started when a man by the name of Lord Derby won his right to have the game named after him just with the toss of the coin. This is when the classic game started and UK Horse racing was established. Horse racing is a serious and extremely competitive sport with five main sports that breeders spend all their time working their horses for. The five races are 1000 Guineas, 2000 Guineas, Derby, Oaks, and the St. Leger.
English Knights
When Horse racing in the UK first emerged, it emerged among the English Knights, when they brought back Arab Horses with them from the Crusades. The Arab Horses were bred side by side with English horses and the end result of this breeding was Thoroughbred horses. This is the breed of horse that is used among the UK horse racers.
Humble Beginnings
When the horse races first began in the UK, they were held between two horses on private courses, and open fields. Prizes were awarded to the rightful winners, and in time the first venue for these races was Newmarket, which is located in England.
As time progressed and Queen Anne came to power, horse races grew from only racing two horses to using several horses. This is when betting on the horses first came into play in the game.
The Jockey Club
The Jockey Club was then started in the mid 1750’s. The Jockey Club laid out the actual rules of the sport of Horse racing. This is where the first five types of races came into play, which included different levels of classes for each participating horse. From there it all bloomed, and they began to regulate the breeding of the actual horses to ensure that the horses were actually of pedigree stature. In order to race your horse, you needed to have a complete family history of your horses to prove that they were actually a pedigree horse.
Regulatory Body
To this day, The Jockey Club still regulates the sport of horse racing, but in the end the British Horseracing Board has become the point of authority for all horse racing in Great Britain. The sport of Horse racing started in the UK, and has since spread all over the world, mainly in the States. This sport has a wonderful yet profound history, and has shown immense progress over the past one hundred years or so, it is definitely quite a show to see if you are just looking for a good time, or looking to do some light gambling.