Mankind’s like affair with horses started long before recorded history – there is evidence of horses being tamed for domestic use that dates back over 6000 years. The beginnings of the history of horse racing are lost in the mists of time, but we can take upon yourself that the trademark competitive spirit of homo sapiens made competitions among the ancient tribes to see who had the fastest horses. The history of horse racing as a sport starts with the prehistoric cultures of the Central Asia and the Mediterranean from where it spread to Greece – it is known to have been part of the Olympics as far back as 638 BC. The Romans then took up the sport and spread it throughout southern Europe where the import of horses from Arabia and their local breeding for the purpose of racing started.

At the end of the Crusades in the 1100s, English knights returning from the wars brought back with them the Arabian horses that were being used for racing in southern Europe. Although these horses were very quick, they were unable to cope with the cold climates of the north and so people started to cross them with local breeds which is where the business of breeding horses for racing starts. The history of horse racing as an organized sport on the lines that is exists today started with race meets in the early 1500s and the earliest known race track came into being around this time. Maintaining horses for racing was so expensive that it was limited only to the nobility and was not a sport of the people. It took 200 years for the popularity to spread and for racing to become a sport of widespread interest in the country.

Since the early colonists brought horses with them when they came to America, it was not long before horse racing became a well loved private sport and this led to the setting up of the first race track in the country in Long Island in the mid 17th century. Many other race tracks sprang up in the New York area but these races were limited to the rich landed farmers and plantation owners who used racing as a way of screening off their breeding and training prowess. It took until the time of the Civil war for racing to become of more widespread interest and this was when people started to see the huge profits that could be made from organized racing if it were run as a business. Racing in America, as we know it today, started when the first commercial race track was built at Saratoga Springs in 1864 and the first stakes race was run. With online betting and TV taking horse racing to every confront of the country, it has now grown into a sport of universal fascinate that is also a multi billion dollar industry.

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