Horse races are competitions between two horses to test speed or stamina; the one who crosses the finish line first is declared the victor. Horse racing has long been an immensely popular form of entertainment; over time its popularity has only grown with time. Though horse races have grown from simple contests between primitive animals to large fields of runners with sophisticated electronic monitoring equipment and large cash sums at stake; its basic concept remains unchanged.
Bettors on horse races typically place wagers to win, place or show. Bets to win involve selecting the horse that comes in first while bets placed for second or third places are usually much lower in payoff than bet to win payouts.
The initial horse races were simple match races between multiple horses owned by one owner. Bettors placed bets against the outcome of each match using purse money provided by said owner as bettors put money down as wagers on its outcome; all agreements were recorded by disinterested third parties who eventually came to be known as match books.
There are three groups of people involved with horse racing: those who drug their horses illegally and challenge the industry to catch them; dupes who live under the illusion that it is generally honest; and honorable souls who understand that much of it is more crooked than intended, yet still support and root for their favorites. When Seabiscuit won the Triple Crown in 1941, many fans – whether regular bettors or casual spectators at grandstand events – cheered his name rather than his number as they felt they had something special to celebrate; many fans cheered his name rather than his number as they felt connected with him personally.
Horse racing has transitioned from an exclusive hobby for the wealthy to an enormous public entertainment business that makes billions in annual profits. Along the way, technology innovations have enhanced safety on and off the track – thermal imaging cameras can detect heat exhaustion after races; MRI scanners and X-rays can detect minor injuries that would otherwise go undetected; while 3D printing provides casts and splints to heal injured horses more rapidly.
Johanna Dunaway and Regina G. Lawrence conducted a recent study that demonstrated how newspaper articles about state and national elections more often depict them as horseraces than as democratic processes. Researchers studied 10,784 articles written about state and national elections between Sept. 1 and Election Day between 2004-2008. They discovered that corporate-owned or large chain newspapers were more likely to use horse race framing than smaller independently owned papers, especially during close elections and weeks leading up to Election Day. Their findings suggested this type of horse race framing reflected American politics at that moment in time.
