Archive for category Horse Racing
Horse Racing’s Triple Crown
Posted by admin in Horse Racing on July 14, 2011
The Triple Crown, like many of the best traditions, wasn’t created, it evolved. During the late 1800′s three different tracks created races to test the speed and stamina of the new crop of three year olds. 
The first Belmont Stakes took place in 1867, the first Preakness ran in 1873, and it wasn’t until the advent of the Kentucky Derby in 1875 that all three races were run in the same year for the first time. Forty-four years later in 1919 Sir Barton became the first horse to win all three. The term Triple Crown wasn’t coined until 1930 when a Daily Racing Form columnist, Charles Hatton, used it while covering Gallant Fox’s road to becoming the second Triple Crown champion.
In the 133 years that have passed only 11 horses have managed to accomplish what is arguably the most difficult feat in sports. Compared to the Triple Crown, no-hitters in baseball are a common occurrence. There have been more solar eclipses in our lifetime than Triple Crown winners and every year more people are struck by lightening than the total number of Triple Crown winners in history. Read the rest of this entry »
The Famous Horse Racing Tracks
Posted by admin in Horse Racing on July 14, 2011
Famous horse racing tracks host some of the best known horse racing events in the country. Many of these horse track racing venues have hosted the top races in the United States and many of the champion race horses have run on them throughout the years. Some of the top horse racing venues in the United States are:
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Churchill Downs Racetrack in Louisville, Kentucky hosts the Breeders Cup Championship, and the annual Run for the Roses, better known as the Kentucky Derby.
- The Belmont Stakes is held in Belmont, New York at Belmont Race Park, opened in 1905.
- Pimlico was opened in 1870 in Baltimore, Maryland, and was where the 1938 Preakness Stakes race between champion race horses Seabiscuit and War Admiral was held.
- Saratoga in Saratoga Springs, New York hosts the Travers Stakes, which is the oldest major thoroughbred stakes horseracing in the US.
- Arlington Park, in Arlington Heights, Illinois outside of Chicago is home to the Arlington Million and Secretariat Stakes. Read the rest of this entry »