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Probably one of the most stand out features of Arlington Heights, California is the Arlington race track, a horse race track that attracts thousands. But where did horse racing get its start, and when did it come the United States? This is a topic you probably won’t even touch on with your Arlington Heights tutor!

Horse racing can be traced all the way back to 4500 B.C., where the nomadic tribesmen of Central Asia first domesticated horses for personal use. While not the organized races we know today, it gave rise to the beginning of the sport. Horse racing is one of the oldest and most widely attended sports in the United states, with over 50 million spectators attending almost 8,000 days of racing in 1989. During that time, almost 9 billion dollars was bet!

Horse racing found its start in the United States via British settlers. The very first race track for horses was laid in Long Island in 1665, however the sport didn’t really get organized until after the Civil War. Even after then, with no governing bodies to control the sport, horse racing fell into the hands of corruption and many back handed deals were performed. In 1894 the biggest names in horse racing got together to do something about this, and formed the American Jockey Club. This club organizes horse racing to this day, and is the governing authority of the sport. Taking direction from clubs in Britain, the organization was able to get rid of a lot of the corruption that had plagued the sport in the beginning.

At the end of World War I, great champions like Man O’ War brought a multitude of spectators in, and the sport flourished. The sport began to lose popularity in the 1950’s and 1960’s, but picked up speed with champions like Secretariat and Seattle View, all Triple Crown winners. The Triple Crown is a three-part series of races including the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness, and the Belmont Stakes. While the sport grew for a while, it again lost popularity in the 1980’s and that has extended into today. That is due in part to the fact that there had not been a Triple Crown winner for some time, but many people also felt the treatment of the horses in these races was inhumane, and did not support the practice.

Whatever you might believe, the Arlington race track is a draw for many people, and you can’t help but admire the large and elegant beasts that make running look so effortless. It may not be a sport you care to visit after a lesson with your Arlington Heights tutor, but it is a sport rich in history and heritage.