User:Dark horse racing/Sandbox

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Thoroughbred horse racing is the most popular form of horse-racing throughout the world. A trainer, who is hired by the thoroughbred horse's owner, would train the horses for a particular event (the horse trains on a local training track near the stable and at facilities and in the open country nearby) and also enter horses into races that would suit the horse. Trainers also have professional relations with jockeys, who ride the horse and give feedback to the trainer after every run.

• A handicap race is one in which the runners have been "handicapped" according to their performance in other races. Theoretically, all horses have a chance of being competitive in a race that is correctly handicapped. Examples include the Grand National at Aintree, the Cambridgeshire Handicap at Newmarket, the Santa Anita Handicap at Santa Anita Park, the Easter Handicap at Ellerslie Racecourse, and the Melbourne Cup at Flemington Racecourse.

• Graded stakes races in the United States, or Conditions races as they are referred to in England and France, are higher-class races for bigger prizes. They often involve competitors that belong to the same gender, age and class. These races may, though, be "weight-for-age", with weights adjusted only according to age, and also there are "set weights" where all horses carry the same weight. Furthermore, there are "conditions" races, in which horses carry weights that are set by conditions, such as having won a certain number of races, or races of a certain value. Examples of a stakes/conditions race are the Breeders' Cup races, the Two Thousand Guineas Stakes, the One Thousand Guineas Stakes, the Epsom Derby, the Epsom Oaks, the St. Leger Stakes, the Kentucky Derby, the Kentucky Oaks, the Preakness Stakes, the Belmont Stakes, the Travers Stakes, and the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe.

• A maiden race is one in which the runners have never won a race. Maiden races can be among horses of many different age groups. It is similar to a stakes race in the respect that horses all carry similar weights and there are no handicapped "penalties." This is the primary method for racing a 2 year old for the first time.

• An allowance race is one in which the runners run for a higher purse than in a maiden race. These races usually involve conditions such as "non-winner of three lifetime." They usually are for a horse which has broken its maiden but is not ready for stakes company.

• A claiming race is one in which the runners run for a tag and anyone may claim a runner via the claim box. The intent of this is to even the race, since you may lose your horse for the given claiming price. Someone may wish to claim a horse if they think the horse has not been trained to its fullest potential under another trainer.

• Jumping races and steeplechases, called National Hunt racing in the United Kingdom and Ireland, are run over long distances, usually from two miles (3200 m) up to four and a half miles (7200 m), and horses carry more weight. Novice jumping races involve horses that are starting out a jumping career, including horses that previously were trained flat racing. National Hunt racing is distinguished between hurdles races and chases: the former are run over low obstacles and the latter over larger fences that are much more difficult to jump.

Horses that run in American-style races are judged on the weight (a horse carrying 52 kg is said to have better chances than one that carries 58 kg), the barrier gate or draw (horses have less distance to make up if they start from an inside barrier ("stall" in the United Kingdom and Ireland), such as 1, rather than from an outside one, such as 15), the performance over the last three starts, and also the performance on wet tracks, against horses of gender and class (weak or strong opposition). Time ratings and jockey statistics are also factors in a horse's performance in a race, but they are considered less important.

The draw is less important in United Kingdom and Irish racing in races over longer than a mile (1609 m), although it is significant at certain courses for "sprints", races of five furlongs (1006 m) up to a mile (1609 m). In National Hunt racing, horses do not have a draw because they are started by flag, and line up at the start behind a tape.

While the attention of horseracing fans and the media is focused almost exclusively on the horse's performance on the racetrack or for male horses, possibly its success as a sire, but little publicity is given the brood mares. Such is the case of La Troienne, one of the most important mares of the 20th century to whom many of the greatest thoroughbred champions, and dams of champions can be traced.

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