Spending a day at the racetrack can rank right up there with a day of sunshine and outdoorsy fun at the beach. It’s all about combining fresh air and the joy of being outside with the excitement of a popular sport and the thrill of taking the thoroughbred fan experience to a new level of involvement.
But in order to get started, it is important to know the difference between standardbred and thoroughbred horse racing.
A Splash Of History
We can tell from the inscriptions and images carved into ancient artifacts that horse racing dates back literally tens of centuries to time when troopers of old used to race their cart-drawing horses in battle; carts back then referred to as chariots. This form of racing was what would later go on to evolve into the harness racing events we know and enjoy today.
Then, around 600 B.C., warriors began mounting saddled horses, which eventually led the birth of thoroughbred racing and later on, betting on horse racing events.
Today’s harness racing horses are called standardbreds. They pull a driver and a small, double-wheeled cart around a track. These carts are called “sulkies”. Since thoroughbred racing is however today the most popular form of horse racing there is, we’ll focus the remainder of our discussion on thoroughbred horses and races.
How Horses Are Placed
The majority of thoroughbred racetracks offer on average a total of nine races on any given day – all with special conditions in place that horses who are compete in those races must meet in order to be eligible for entry.
This means that a specific race will feature horses of a pre-specified sex and age. For example, a race might allow only 2-year-old fillies (females) that have won only a single race in the past. Such a race will not permit any https://bettingonlineusa.org/horse/ that has one more than one event to enter, nor male or older female horses.
Levelling The Field
Races are typically administrated in such a way so that the competition field is levelled as fairly as possible. This is where so-called weight allowances come into play. For example, a horse that hasn’t won for an extended period of time may be permitted to carry less of a weight. Also, a horse ridden by an apprentice jockey may too be permitted to carry less weight than one raced by an experienced rider.
These are all factors that must be kept in mind and which will eventually become part of the decision-making process once the bettor becomes more experienced and accustomed to the sports betting experience.