Thoroughbred racing is a sport and industry involving the racing of Thoroughbred horses. It is governed by different national bodies. There are two forms of the sport – flat racing and jump racing, the latter known as National Hunt racing in the UK and steeplechasing in the US. Jump racing can be further divided into hurdling and steeplechasing.
Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic premise – to identify which of two or more horses is the fastest over a set course or distance – has been mostly unchanged since at least classical antiquity.
Thoroughbred horse racing is an important spectator sport in Australia, and gambling on horse races is a very popular pastime with A$14.3 billion wagered in 2009/10 with bookmakers and the Totalisator Agency Board (TAB). The two forms of Thoroughbred horseracing in Australia are flat racing, and races over fences or hurdles in Victoria and South Australia. Thoroughbred racing is the third most attended spectator sport in Australia, behind Australian rules football and rugby league, with almost two million admissions to 360 registered racecourses throughout Australia in 2009/10. Horseracing commenced soon after European settlement, and is now well-appointed with automatic totalizators, starting gates and photo finish cameras on nearly all Australian racecourses.
Affirmed was a champion American Thoroughbred racehorse who is the eleventh winner of the American Triple Crown. Affirmed was well known for his famous rivalry with Alydar, whom he met ten times, including coming second in each of the three 1978 Triple Crown races. After Affirmed won the Triple Crown, there was a 37-year wait until American Pharoah swept the series in 2015.
Woodbine Racetrack is a race track for Thoroughbred horse racing in the Etobicoke area of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Owned by Woodbine Entertainment Group, Woodbine Racetrack manages and hosts Canada's most famous race, the King's Plate. The track was opened in 1956 with a one-mile oval dirt track, as well as a seven-eights turf course. It has been extensively remodeled since 1993, and since 1994 has had three racecourses.
The Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf is a Weight for Age Thoroughbred horse race on turf for fillies and mares, three years old and up. It is held annually at a different racetrack in the United States as part of the Breeders' Cup World Championships.
Lone Star Park is a horse racing track and entertainment destination located 1⁄2 mile north of Interstate 30 on Belt Line Road in Grand Prairie, Texas. Lone Star Park has two live racing seasons every year; the spring Thoroughbred season generally runs from early April through mid-July, and the Fall Meeting of Champions generally runs from early September through mid-November.
Turfway Park is an American horse racing track located within the city limits of Florence, Kentucky, about 10 miles (16 km) south of the Ohio River at Cincinnati. The track conducts live Thoroughbred horse racing during two meets each year—Holiday (December), and Winter/Spring —and offers year-round simulcast wagering from tracks across the continent.
Tampa Bay Downs is an American Thoroughbred horse racing facility located in Westchase in Hillsborough County in the U.S. state of Florida, just outside Tampa. It opened in 1926 under the name Tampa Downs, and has also been known as Sunshine Park and Florida Downs and Turf Club.
A graded stakes race is a thoroughbred horse race in the United States that meets the criteria of the American Graded Stakes Committee of the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association (TOBA). A specific grade level is then assigned to the race, based on statistical analysis of the quality of the field in previous years, provided the race meets the minimum purse criteria for the grade in question. In Canada, a similar grading system is maintained by the Jockey Club of Canada. Graded stakes races are similar to Group races in Europe but the grading is more dynamic in North America.
Los Alamitos Race Course is a horse racing track in Cypress, California. The track hosts both thoroughbred and quarter horse racing. The track has the distinction of holding four quarter horse stakes races with purses over $1 million, more than any other track in the United States. Although the track is geographically located in the city of Cypress, it has a Los Alamitos postal address. Los Alamitos lies just across Katella Avenue to the south.
The Kentucky Turf Cup is a Grade II American Thoroughbred horse race for three years olds and older, over a distance of 1+1⁄2 miles on the turf held annually in September at Kentucky Downs racetrack in Franklin, Kentucky during their short turf meeting.
Johnny D. is an American Thoroughbred racehorse. He was bred in Virginia by Miss Peggy Augustus and raced under the Dana Bray banner as his owner. He finished racing with a record of 7-2-6 in 17 starts with career earnings of $371,256. Johnny D. was best known for his wins in the grade one Washington, D.C. International Stakes and the grade one Turf Classic Invitational Stakes. Although he raced for several years, 1977 is when he won all but his maiden race including his two grade one turf races. That same year he was named the country's top grass equine by being voted 1977 American Champion Male Turf Horse honors.
Joe Daniels (1869–1896) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse and stallion who won the sixth Belmont Stakes in 1872. Bred in Kentucky, Joe Daniels won two stakes races as a two-year-old and then the Belmont as a three-year-old when he also won a number of other stakes races, and some match races in California. As a four-year-old, he won one further stakes race before retiring with a record of 29 starts for 16 wins. He sired two stakes winning horses during his breeding career.
The Road to the Kentucky Derby is a points system by which horses qualify for a position in the starting gate for the Kentucky Derby. It features dozens of stakes races for 2 and 3-year-old Thoroughbreds – the number and specific races have changed slightly over the years. The point system replaced a previous qualifying system that looked at earnings from all graded stakes races worldwide.
Horse racing in the United States dates back to 1665, which saw the establishment of the Newmarket course in Salisbury, New York, a section of what is now known as the Hempstead Plains of Long Island, New York. This first racing meet in North America was supervised by New York's colonial governor, Richard Nicolls. The area is now occupied by the present Nassau County, New York, region of Greater Westbury and East Garden City.
Dayatthespa is an American Thoroughbred racehorse. As a three-year-old in 2012 she won her first five races including the Herecomesthebride Stakes, Appalachian Stakes and Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup. After winning two races in an abbreviated 2013 season she reached her peak as a five-year-old in 2014, winning the Yaddo Stakes, the First Lady Stakes and the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf.
The John B. Connally Turf Cup is a Grade III American Thoroughbred horse race, for four-year-olds and older over a distance of one and one-half miles on the turf track, held annually in late January or early February at Sam Houston Race Park in Houston, Texas. The event currently carries a purse of $200,000.
The Houston Ladies Classic Stakes is a Grade III American thoroughbred horse race for fillies and mares age four and older over a distance of one and aon-sixteenth miles on the dirt track held annually in late January at Sam Houston Race Park in Houston, Texas. The event currently carries a purse of $400,000.
