Horse racing in North America began almost as soon as Europeans settled the colonies. The first racetrack, called the New Market, was established in 1665 near the site of the present-day garden city of Long Island in New York. Tracks rapidly developed wide appeal among the citizens, and horse racing spread along the Atlantic Coast quickly.1 By the time of the American Revolution, horse racing had already become popular in almost every colony. Moreover, it was moving well into the newly settled areas of the Southwest. Andrew Jackson was a founder of the first racing track in Nashville, Tennessee, in the early nineteenth century. By the 1800s, Kentucky had eight racetracks, due to its native bluegrass being recognized as ideal for grazing horses.2
Horse racing becomes much more important when we analyze life in early American society. Like almost everything else in the life of early America, the world of horse racing was separated by strong lines of class and race.3 For many years, it was considered the exclusive enjoyment for the rich gentleman. In 1674, a court in Virginia gave a fine to James Bullock, a tailor, who proposed a race. It was against the law for a laborer to make a race, and according to the court, horse racing was a sport exclusive to only rich gentlemen. While aristocrats retained control of racing, they were not the only people who participated. Southern aristocrats often trained young male slaves as jockeys for their horses, and northern horse owners employed the services of free blacks as riders. In America, African Americans eventually emerged as some of the most talented and experienced trainers of racing horses. Horse racing became very popular among the public. Despite social and legal pressures, free blacks and poor whites often staged their own informal races.4
Racing also reflected the growing sectional rivalry between the North and the South. In 1824, the Union Race Course on Long Island established an astounding $24,000 prize for a race between two famous thoroughbreds: American Eclipse from the North, and Sir Henry from the South. Surprisingly, the race between Eclipse and Sir Henry was America’s first national event.5 Eclipse won two of the three heats, but Sir Henry prevailed in another such celebrated contest in 1836. These intersectional races, which drew enormous crowds and created tremendous publicity, continued into the 1850s, until the North-South rivalry began to take a deadly turn.6
Horse racing remained popular after the Civil War, but two major developments changed its character considerably. The first development was the successful effort to drive African-Americans out of the sport. At least until in the 1890s, black jockeys and trainers remained central to racing. At the first Kentucky Derby, in 1875, fourteen of the fifteen horses had African American jockeys. Isaac Murphy, a black man, won a remarkable 44 percent of all races, including three Kentucky Derbies. Gradually, however, the same social dynamics that enforced racial segregation in so many other areas of American life penetrated to horse racing as well. By the beginning of the twentieth century, white jockeys and organized jockey clubs had driven almost all black riders and many black trainers out of the sport.7
The second change was the introduction of formalized betting in the sport. In the late nineteenth century, racetracks began creating betting systems to lure customers to the races. Race horses were moving into the hands of enormously wealthy families, and the audience for racing was becoming increasingly working class and lower middle class. The people who now came to tracks were mostly white men, and some white women, who were lured to the races not by the love of horses, but by the usually futile hope of quick and easy riches through gambling.8
As soon as the horse racing ideology was offered to the American society, the public showed great affection. Horse racing has become known as one of the most popular sports in America. Over time its development exposed the changes American society has gone through. Horse racing is still popular in America today, so popular in fact that a three famous races, the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes, and the Belmont Stakes, known together as the Triple Crown, are still held every May and June.
- Alan Brinkley, American History: Connecting with the Past Volume 2, 15 edition (New York: McGraw-Hill Education, 2014), 156. ↵
- Richard Locker, “Will horse racing and betting make a comeback in Tennessee?” Commercial Appeal, accessed December 6, 2016, http://archive.commercialappeal.com/news/government/state/will-horse-racing—-and-betting-on-them—-make-a-comeback-in-tennessee-327f1df7-521b-7209-e053-010-379234621.html. ↵
- Brinkley, American History: Connecting with the Past Volume 2, 15 edition, 156. ↵
- Brinkley, American History: Connecting with the Past Volume 2, 15 edition, 156. ↵
- Henry Cecil, The Racing Post: A Great Knight (London, Business Insights, 2011), 2. ↵
- Cecil, The Racing Post: A Great Knight, 2. ↵
- Brinkley, American History: Connecting with the Past Volume 2, 15 edition, 156. ↵
- Brinkley, American History: Connecting with the Past Volume 2, 15 edition, 156. ↵
77 comments
Edith De Loera
My family and I have had a deep love for horses, for as long as I can remember, so this article was very interesting to me. My father has participated in many horse races himself, so I very much enjoyed reading about that. How unfortunate for the African Americans, to be the first jockeys only to be rejected later on due to their skin color.
Alejandra Mendez
This article title immediately caught my eye because I have cousins that are jockeys. My family has always taken an interest in horses as well as horse races, but we never bothered to look into the history of it. Now that I know more of the history, it’s kind of scary and I’m glad we have come a long way since then. I knew of only of the upper class being hosts of these races, but I never knew of slaves being assigned and trained to be the jockeys by their owners. This is a very interesting article that definitely taught me something new.
Josselyn Arrieta-Meraz
This article immediately caught my attention because of how different the topic was. My family comes from a long chain of horse racers, but I never actually felt the curiosity to look at it’s history and learn where it all started. This article allowed me to do so. I was surprised by how far back in history this all occurred and how well rounded of a sport it has become, although it is not heard of much or may be considered a sport to many for someone who has watched this sport overtime in my hometown, you get to learn and appreciate the beauty of it, and the truth is that all it is now, is a simple gambling game where families and friends gather to watch these horses race across the tracks, the adrenaline you feel after bidding money on a horse is crazy, just like any other game or sport anyone may feel passionate about this is the same. I was really surprised to learn that this all because as an exclusive sport for the rich, which now makes sense, but in present time any class in my perspective is able to enjoy a good horse race.
Eric Victoria
I personally have never been to a horse race and I don’t think I’d like to go to one either. The whole thing of watching horses run around a track doesn’t really catch my eye, neither does NASCAR. But to think that horse racing has been around since the early colonies have been around is pretty astonishing. You would think that people in 1665 would have better thing to do than to domesticate horses and make them race. I always thought of it as a more recreational thing that nobody really cares about anymore. I never really thought that the sport used to be so segregated as it used to be early on. In conclusion I like the facts this provided and the knowledge I gained from this article.
Sergio Cervantes
It is interesting to read about a different pastime of the American people., horse racing. I cannot believe it started so early in our country’s history that it can be traced back to the original colonies. From this article, I can clearly see how African Americans played a vital role in popularizing this rich man’s sport. It is sad to see how segregation made its way into this amazing sport and prevented many talented men from competing in the races.
Tyler Sleeter
Extremely informative article. I did not know much about horse racing except that horses are often injured and jockeys are forced to be thin, petite men. I was surprised to learn that horse racing began as an exclusive sport of the rich until betting became standardized, with all classes of people wanting to make easy money, the rich allowed the middle and lower class into the sport. It is shameful that racism was so prevalent in early horse racing, but it is not surprising. After the abolishment of slavery, many laws were passed to separate the races in all sports.
Ana Gonzalez
This was very interesting article, thank you. I never knew about the origins of horse riding and it was very interesting to learn about how horse riding was only for the elite of society. You did a great job explaining how this sport was much more than just racing and it actually represented tensions between the North and the South. In my opinion, horse racing continues to be part of the high society but it is not the same as it was in the past .Great article!
Marissa Gonzalez
I was never familiar with how horse racing started initially. I remember as a little girl, my dad would take me to see the horse races and I noticed how people would pay to bet on which horse would win. He would ask me which horse he should pick and I would choose the horse that was wearing my favorite color. I never really understood this obviously as a little girl. After reading this article, it makes sense to how it all started; however, unfortunately it seemed as a very isolated event since it was mainly for wealthy white individuals. It was interesting how horse racing has changed over time. Very well informative article!
Alexis Soto
I come from a family of ranchers in Mexico and animals have always been part of my life. I have old photos of a horse my grandfather used to own and we have paintings of horses throughout my home. I however never got into horse racing. My knowledge of horse racing was mostly due to the film Seabiscuit so it was nice to read about its history. It truly is interesting how it belonged to the rich and later to the public. Good read!
Samuel Sanchez
I’ve never really paid much attention to horse racing but I’ve seen basically all horse derby movies and it seemed interesting. But now after reading the article it has an interesting history. I did not know how rooted horse racing is in our culture. It was interesting how the slaves were introduced into horse racing and they were the best at it. Surprising that after the Civil War there was an effort to drive African Americans out of the sport.