A horse race is a contest in which horses are forced to run at breakneck speed under the threat of being injured or killed. This contest bears no resemblance to the way horses naturally play and run in nature and is an unequivocal unnatural act for horses, who understand self-preservation and instinctively resist running to their death at the track. The only reason horse races exist is because humans, perched on their backs, compel them to do so with the whip.
A plethora of factors contribute to the cruelty of horse racing, including a system of prize money that encourages the owner to run his or her horse past its limits. This system, along with a lack of an industry-sponsored wraparound aftercare solution, gives horses little choice but to race even when they are injured or nearing the end of their lives. This results in many ex-racehorses hemorrhaging into the slaughter pipeline, where they are offered a Facebook post and a brief window to be “bailed” before being shipped off to Mexico or Canada to be slaughtered.
In the earliest days of horse racing, match races were often held between two or more horses and the bettors paid a stake to enter. Later, larger fields of runners were created and rules governing eligibility were established. These included age, sex, birthplace and previous performances of the horse. The agreements among the bettors and owners were recorded by disinterested third parties, who came to be known as keepers of the match book.
Today, most horse races are won by a small number of horses at the very front of the field. The winner receives a purse, which is typically determined by a formula based on the race’s distance, type and class. The other horses, called the field, are assigned a handicap according to their chance of winning. The handicaps, or weights, are determined by an elaborate scale of variables, including age, class, sex, and time of year.
Several of these variables are also taken into account when determining the outcome of the horse race, which is a major consideration for bettors. When a horse is given a weight advantage, it will be listed as the favorite in the betting odds. This is the best-case scenario for bettors.
The term horse race is also used in the political arena to refer to a contest between two or more politicians or other competing entities. It can be a derogatory or positive term, depending on the context in which it is used. For example, in a campaign, it is considered negative to refer to the competition as a “horse race,” because voters are often swept up into mud-slinging and name calling and fail to see that real issues are at stake. This characterization of a political contest as a horse race has long been critiqued by media critics and scholars, who argue that such coverage fails to provide the public with a full and unbiased overview of the candidates and their positions on key issues.