Horseracing is an ancient sport that took place in ancient Greece, Syria, Rome, and Egypt. This sport has also been mentioned in ancient mythological histories of Nordic culture, as well. Horse racing was a sport at the 648 BC Greek Olympic Games. It was so important to the Roman Empire that for about 400 years (from mid-1400 to 1882), the annual spring carnival ended with a horse race. Its popularity never diminished, and competing for thoroughbred horses later became a common sport with the British upper class and royalty. Some people believe that the horse racing preserves the equestrian skills that otherwise would have been lost once the horses were used for war.

Although horse racing as we know, your organization, the breeding of the P. S. C., the Stud Book (studbook), had their beginnings in England. Flat races record their roots in ancient Greek and Roman civilizations, when equestrian competitions were of vital importance, especially at fairs and memorable dates held throughout Europe.

The main difference with modern racing was that the horse was always secondary to the rider, the ability of the rider is the most important, and especially in the competitions that the Romans liked to perform in short and small two-wheel carriages. The first records of flat-unofficial races with registered dates date back to 1074 in England and 1370 in France (Saumur). In 1465 Pope Paul II was the patron of the Berber horse races that were held along the Via del Corso until reaching the present Piazza Venezia, where the pontiff had built “Il Palazzo di Venice” and from whose windows he enjoyed the magnificent spectacle.

In England, the first races took place in the Epsom Downs region during the reign of Richard the Lionheart (1157-99), who, being a great lover of Oriental horses, was the first person to offer money as a reward to the winner. In 1511, during the reign of Henry VIII, in the city of Chester, the first English racetrack was built where, in addition to the monetary reward, a wooden ball was offered as a trophy to the winner. The cash prize was given in a multicolored silk or leather (purse) bag, from which comes the word used in the current racing conditions when referring to the award of the competition (“with a bag of”). It is not known from when the bag, with the coins deposited, was hung on the finish line so that the rider who crossed it first took it. But for a long time, it was customary in England and other European countries.

Already in 1603, the mayor of Chester ordered to unify in the bag the value of the” entry ” or inscriptions, with the prize contributed by the mayor’s office in addition to beginning the delivery of silver trophies. By the beginning of the 17th century (±1625), seasons or racing meetings were opened with regulations for registration and retreats, and prison sentences were imposed for riders guilty of improper or dishonest driving. During the reign of Charles II (1660-85), English hippies received a significant boost reaching such enthusiasm the King himself competed as a rider in countless races with his famous Rowley horse in Newmarket.

In 1651, the show started in France with bets from third parties, in addition to those already existing between owners. North America was not left behind, and in 1666 the governor of New York officialized horse racing on the same land where the Aqueduct Racetrack (Long Island) was later built; and almost at the same time, the Newmarket racetrack was erected in Hempstead, England. To make historical references to current hippies and its regulations, it would be necessary to highlight the founding of the English Jockey Club in 1750 as a starting point. Around this institution, all the development of hippies in subsequent years revolved. In its early days, the J. C. had jurisdiction over Newmarket and were later included, Epsom, Ascot, Goodwood until it gradually covered all of the United Kingdom’s hippodromes (today 59).

Auction in Newmarket 1828

In France, the most important of the precursors of our favorite sport was the Count d’artois, brother of Louis XVI, who built a simple racetrack at Champ de Mars with the same name on the grounds of the current Eiffel Tower in Paris. In 1776 two seasons of racing began to spring and autumn, in the same place where the famous Longchamps racetrack is located. Shortly afterward, they began to compete regularly at Fontainebleau and Vincennes (1777 and 1781). With the birth of the Republic, Napoleon himself decreed in 1805 the formalization of horse racing throughout the country, establishing the first regulations that, beginning in 1808 stimulated the development of breeding and instituted a series of skills that, with their winners, they run a Grand Prix in Paris (Grand Prix de Paris), even though formally the Grand Prix de Paris was run for the first time in 1863. The French Jockey Club was founded in 1834, being the Duke D’orléans, the first compiler or creator of The Stud Book archives from 1833. The following year the classic Jockey Club Cup, equivalent to the English Derby and the top European Classic Arc de Triomphe, was held for the first time in 1920 (France has more than 200 hippodromes).