There are three types of people in horse racing. The crooks, who dangerously drug their horses and countenance crooked agents, are a small but feral minority that stain the integrity of the sport for everyone else. The dupes labor under the fantasy that the industry is broadly honest and fair. And then there are the masses in the middle, neither naive nor crooks, who know that things are more crooked than they ought to be and yet don’t give their full efforts to reform it.
In racing, a race is won by the horse that covers the most ground in the final quarter mile. This distance is calculated by measuring the distance from the starting gate to the finish line.
The more a jockey can coax his or her mount to cover this distance, the higher the odds of winning the race and making a profit on a bet. This is a skill that requires experience and judgment, and the best riders can make their mounts cover a huge number of yards in a very short time.
A race is classified as a stakes event if it has a purse of $100,000 or more. The most prestigious stakes races are graded 1s and 2s. Grade 1 races feature the top tier of Thoroughbred horses, while grade 2 and 3 races have less accomplished horses. A panel of horse racing experts assigns the grades at the end of each year.
In addition to a huge prize pool, the winner of a stakes race receives an engraved silver cup. This is the most coveted award in the sport. Some horses also earn points towards a potential Eclipse Trophy, which is awarded annually to the top North American Thoroughbred racehorse.
Most races are contested over dirt or turf, with each surface having different properties that affect the performance of a horse. For example, dirt is typically more slippery than turf and may require a horse to run faster to keep pace with the leaders.
A jockey uses his or her whip to guide a horse through the course of a race. It’s important to hit the horse at just the right time to produce the desired effect. The most skilled jockeys can manipulate their mounts with precise, rhythmic strikes to maximize their chances of victory.
The shoulder is one of the two regions on a horse’s body that a rider can use to steer the animal. It is a large, heavily muscled area that connects the base of the neck (humerus) and the foreleg pastern. The more pronounced the angle of the shoulder, the farther out the forelegs can reach when they are extended forward and the greater the amount of speed the horse can generate. This makes a well-ridden shoulder a key component of the horse’s ability to generate speed and win a race. A well-ridden shoulder often means the difference between first and second place. A well-ridden shoulder also reflects a horse’s level of fitness and endurance.