As long as there have been horses there has been the racing of them. In fact it is one of the world’s most ancient sports dating back to the nomadic tribesmen of the Central Asian steppe. Genghis Khan, and later, the Russian Cossack warriors would not have been as successful in their empire spreading had it not been for the horse.
As early as 1140, the first of a long line of King Henrys tried to improve Hobby horses–pony-sized Irish horses–by importing Arab stallions to give them more speed and power. Henry’s Hobbys, as they were called, raced against horses owned by other nobility, lending the word “hobby” to mean a “costly pastime indulged in by the idle rich.”
Hundreds of years later, once the Americas had been conquered- with the aid of horses, and after the American Revolutionary War, more and more immigrants ventured into the Kentucky Territory where horse racing quickly became an institution.
At the 1775 Transylvania Convention, Daniel Boone introduced the first bill “to improve the breed of horses in the Kentucky territory.” Many Kentucky settlements–with the notable exception of Louisville which already had a race track–featured a Race Street, a straight stretch located just off the main thoroughfare and named after what went on there.
Back in England the Epsom Derby would start it’s famous history in 1780.
The War of 1812 took a heavy toll on horses. Afterwards, racing was slow to recover in the South and reformers shut it down entirely in the North and East.
On May 17, 1875, in front of an estimated crowd of 10,000 people, a field of 15 three-year-old horses contested the first Kentucky Derby, run at 1.5 miles, the same distance as the Epsom Derby and the Grand Prix de Paris.

The greatest races go hand in hand with some of the greatest horses. Here then is our top 5 greatest races of all time.

1. Quashed and Omaha in the Gold Cup, 1936: To see Quashed and Omaha battle out the finish of the Ascot Gold Cup took years off a man’s life, though it was well worth it.

2. Grundy and Bustino in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes 1975: The hardest, most implacable, most moving Flat race most have ever seen - a judgment widely shared about a contest soon dubbed ‘The Race of the Century.

3. Arkle and Mill House in the Cheltenham Gold Cup 1964: A race so fabled there’s even a song about it - Dominic Behan’s boozy ballad ‘Arkle‘ - that chronicled the famous showdown between two young and apparently unbeatable steeplechasers.

4. Mandarin in the Grand Steeplechase de Paris 1962: Sheer heroism from horse and jockey. Mandarin’s bit broke early in the race, leaving Fred Winter with no brakes or steering around Auteuil’s dizzying four-mile figure-of-eight circuit, but a combination of leg-power and willpower kept the partnership intact

5. Secretariat in the Belmont Stakes 1973: One of the greatest displays of individual equine brilliance in the modern era.