Earliest Horse Races – England 12th Century

I thought as English Horse Races are famouspedigree, or complete family history, of every horse
worldwide I thought my article on the earliest Englishracing in England. In 1791 the results of his research
horse races would be of interest to horse lovers andwere published as the Introduction to the General
readers from all over world. The origins of modernStud Book. From 1793 to the present, members of
racing lies in the 12th century, when English knightsthe Weatherby family have meticulously recorded
returned from the Crusades with swift Arab horses.the pedigree of every foal born to those racehorses
Over the next 400 years, an increasing number ofin subsequent volumes of the General Stud Book.
Arab stallions were imported and bred to EnglishBy the early 1800s the only horses that could be
mares to produce horses that combined speed andcalled "Thoroughbreds" and allowed to race were
endurance. Matching the fastest of these animals inthose descended from horses listed in the General
two-horse races for a private wager became aStud Book. Thoroughbreds are so inbred that the
popular diversion of the nobility.pedigree of every single animal can be traced back
Horse racing began to become a professional sportfather-to-father to one of three stallions, called the
during the reign (1702-14) of Queen Anne, when"foundation sires." These stallions were the Byerley
match racing gave way to races involving severalTurk, foaled c.1679; the Darley Arabian, foaled c.1700;
horses on which the spectators wagered.and the Godolphin Arabian, foaled c.1724.
Racecourses sprang up all over England, offeringOverseas Horse Racing
increasingly large purses to attract the best horses.The British settlers brought horses and horse racing
These purses in turn made breeding and owningwith them to the New World, with the first racetrack
horses for racing profitable.laid out on Long Island as early as 1665. Although the
With the rapid expansion of the sport came the needsport became a popular local pastime, the
for a central governing authority. In 1750 racing's elitedevelopment of organized racing did not arrive until
met at Newmarket to form the English Jockey Club,after the Civil War. (The American Stud Book was
which to this day exercises complete control overbegun in 1868.) For the next several decades, with
English racing.the rapid rise of an industrial economy, gambling on
The English Jockey Club wrote complete rules ofracehorses, and therefore horse racing itself, grew
racing and sanctioned racecourses to conductexplosively; by 1890, 314 tracks were operating
meetings under those rules. Standards defining theacross the country.
quality of races soon led to the designation of certainIn 1894 the America's most prominent track and
races as the ultimate tests of excellence. Since 1814,stable owners met in New York to form an American
five races for three-year-old horses have beenJockey Club, modeled on the English Jockey Club,
designated as "classics." Three races, open to malewhich soon ruled racing with an iron hand.
horses (colts) and female horses (fillies), make up thePlease visit my Funny Animal Art Prints Collection @
English Triple Crown: the 2,000 Guineas, the EpsomMy other website is called Directory of British Icons:
Derby (see DERBY, THE), and the St. Leger Stakes.The Chinese call Britain 'The Island of Hero's' which I
Two races, open to fillies only, are the 1,000 Guineasthink sums up what we British are all about. We
and the Epsom Oaks.British are inquisitive and competitive and are always
The Jockey Club also took steps to regulate thelooking over the horizon to the next adventure and
breeding of racehorses. James Weatherby, whosediscovery.
family served as accountants to the members of theCopyright © 2010 Paul Hussey. All Rights Reserved.
Jockey Club, was assigned the task of tracing the