Betting Systems

Article by Harvey Russell

Equestrian sport is one of the oldest recreations available for mankind. For the past thousands of years up to the 19th century, the game is mainly reserved for the royalty. Maintaining a horse is expensive and only landed and aristocrats have the resources to do it. Horse racing therefore became mainly a “sport for kings”. As the masses cannot join the races directly, they began to involve themselves by betting. Today, the sport is also one of the biggest gambling sports in the world. Let us look at look at some aspects of this popular sport.

The Tracks

There are few types or racetracks depending on the type of horse racing.  Each country in the world has a specific type of horse racing so the surfaces of each course are not changed, usually. Thoroughbred racing are conducted on flat tracks filled with artificial grass or turf while Harness racing are on flat surfaces with sand and plain dirt.

Depending on the conditions, the length of the tracks usually ranges from five furlongs to over a mile and a half.

Types of Races

Horse racing types varies in nearly every country, although majority of the rules are the same. Races organized in different countries have different names but with minor changes in the universal rules of the original sport. The most popular examples of the names of such races are Thoroughbred racing, Harness racing, Quarter horse racing and so on. Thoroughbred racing is the most popular type of race though. In the US and some parts of Asia, Harness horse racing have many followers while Quarter horse racing can be seen mostly in Europe and Britain.

The Horses

Most of the time, racers and horse owners are given the freedom to choose their own horse for the races. During training, each horse is trained for a specific distance to run, which means that a horse in the stable are “specialists” for a certain race and distance. These horses are bred and trained according to what course they are designed to run. In general, racing horses should meet the minimum criteria for being a pure breed. Hence, it is important that the mother and father (sire and dam) must be of the same breed and must meet the standards for racing horses. Horses who are no longer fit for racing due to old age or injuries are still maintained for reproduction purposes.

Betting and Gambling

Horse race betting and gambling has been around for centuries now. Aristocrats and commoners alike found betting on horse races a very good pastime. Today, businessmen, rich folks, and even poor people still find horse race betting a good recreation due to large amount of amount of money involved while at the same time giving a good source of excitement. In Australia for example, hundreds of thousands of viewers were tuned in to their TV sets when Phar Lap entered a race. Its races are some of the hottest Australia news of its time. The same story is repeated all over the world, especially if a certain horse captures the attention of the majority.

About the Author

The author is an established writer for many years on a wide range of topics in many major article directories. He writes news in Australia from time to time.

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