A horse race is a contest of speed or stamina between two horses. The winner is the one who crosses the finish line first. The sport has evolved from a primitive contest of strength between a single horse and a rival into a huge business that features enormous fields of runners, sophisticated electronic monitoring equipment, and immense sums of money. Its basic concept remains unchanged, however.

Horse races are typically run over a flat course, although jumps courses also exist. In flat races, a horse’s speed is more important than its stamina; in jumps races, the ability to leap obstacles is more significant. Horses typically progress through different levels of jumps racing as they age, beginning with National Hunt flat races as juveniles, then moving on to hurdling, and finally, if considered capable, steeplechasing.

The exact origins of organized horse racing are unknown, but there is evidence that it developed in Asia Minor around 1500 B.C.E. Later, it developed in Greece, and chariot and mounted (bareback) races were held at the Olympics as early as 700 B.C.E.

Until the nineteenth century, the majority of races were match contests between two or at most three horses. Then came the era of “dash” racing, in which a rider’s skill was less vital to a win. Eventually, pressure by the public produced events with large fields of runners. The most prestigious races, such as the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe and the Melbourne Cup, are run over distances between 21/2 miles (4 kilometers) and a full mile (2.47 kilometers).

Today’s horse races are often a spectacle with an elaborate array of security measures and equine health care, but behind the romanticized facade of horse racing lies a world of drugs, injuries, gruesome breakdowns, and slaughter. While spectators dress in fine clothes and sip mint juleps, the horses are running for their lives, often under the threat of whips and even electric shock devices, at speeds so fast that they frequently sustain injuries and hemorrhage from their lungs.

In recent years, scholars have begun to study a new type of horse race journalism. This type of journalism aggregates polling data to present a more precise probability that a candidate will win, and allows newsrooms to give novel or unusual candidates a better chance of success. In some cases, this practice may help third-party candidates get more attention than they might otherwise receive, and perhaps reduce the mudslinging, name calling, and attack ads that characterize most presidential elections. But there are some concerns about this trend, as well.