U.S. Race Track Industry Horse

U.S. Race Track Industry

Horse racing has been around for several millennia now, but it has not become a professional sport until 1665, at the time when the Newmarket course was established in Salisbury Plains, Long Island, New York. Americans appeared to be extremely fond of the sport, but there were no efforts made to organize races until the end of the Civil War. The start of the American Stud Book in 1868 marked the beginning of organized horse racing in the U.S. Taking opportunity of the thriving industry, criminal elements did not hesitate to make their presence felt, bringing corruption into the game. Even with that, matters regulated across the twentieth century, with the formation of the American Jockey Club, the fame experienced by antigambling sentiments, and the removal of corruption from the sport. The game thrived during the first half of the twentieth century, only to experience a rapid decline in reputation consequent to that, with limited successes occurring across the 1970s (winning ponies).

Thoroughbred racing is presently wide spread across the U.S., granting spectators the chance to get actively involved in the competition they are watching through betting on the horses they expect to win. The industry has apparently dropped in the recent decades, buy the profits it generates visibly increased. Historians have not given sufficient attention to horse racing, most probably because they did not understand "the complexity of social contest at early national horse races" (Cohen, 2007). These races bring together a variety of people, ranging from a simple worker wanting to get rich by betting on a horse he wants to win to the wealthy individual who simply comes to the race track because he loves the sport and horses in general. The general public regards thoroughbred racing as a simple method of gambling because it are less interested in sport's beauty (Cohen, 2007).

Horse racing has become less profitable in the last decades, this being one of the main reasons for which many of those breeding them have lost interest in the sport. In addition to that, the sport's fans are likely to become less interested in the industry because of the money they lose by betting. Because of the rapid depreciation rate it is virtually impossible for a middle-class individual to afford a race horse. Because the recent decades have not brought forward a certain winner, people have started to feel that the sport will never regain its glory. The individuals who were mainly interested in the gambling feature have come across more moderns methods of gambling and have lost interest in what seems to be a dying sport (Hereth & Talbott, 1993).

Horse racing truly is a glorious sport, but because of the lack of support it got in the last few decades it is unlikely to ever recover from the sphere of anonymity it entered. While animal care was not a matter of extreme importance in the first half of the twentieth century, it does not seem illogical that race horses from the period broke record after record, as most were probably forced to do so with no regard to their health.

Horse racing has a long history and even though it had lost reputation in the last decades it is still remembered and appreciated as one of the most interactive methods of gambling. Many people become addicted not only because of the finances they hoped to win through betting at the game, but also through admiring the animals on display there for their personal satisfaction. Evan Shipman and Ernest Hemingway are only two of the influential figures of the twentieth century who were devoted to gambling on horse racing and to valuing horses in their entire splendor (Robert, 2003).