Famous horse racing tracks host some of the best known horse racing events in the country. Many of these horse track racing venues have hosted the top races in the United States and many of the champion race horses have run on them throughout the years. Some of the top horse racing venues in the United States are:

o Churchill Downs Racetrack in Louisville, Kentucky hosts the Breeders Cup Championship, and the annual Run for the Roses, better known as the Kentucky Derby.

o The Belmont Stakes is held in Belmont, New York at Belmont Race Park, opened in 1905.

o Pimlico was opened in 1870 in Baltimore, Maryland, and was where the 1938 Preakness Stakes race between champion race horses Seabiscuit and War Admiral was held.

o Saratoga in Saratoga Springs, New York hosts the Travers Stakes, which is the oldest major thoroughbred stakes horseracing in the US.

o Arlington Park, in Arlington Heights, Illinois outside of Chicago is home to the Arlington Million and Secretariat Stakes.

o DelMar, which is north of San Diego, is known as the Saratoga of the West, with many prestigious races, including the 1938 race that one of the most famous race horses, Seabiscuit won.

o Oaklawn Park, which was opened in the early 1900′s for the Arkansas Derby and champion race horses, Smarty Jones and Curlin have won there.

o The Meadowlands in East Rutherford, New Jersey opened in 1977 and is a unique horse racing track, because of the night racing events held there.

o Tampa Bay Downs was opened in 1926 in Tampa, Florida, and hosts the Sam F. Davis Stakes which is an official Kentucky Derby qualifier.

o Gulf Stream Park in Hallandale Beach, Florida was opened in 1939 and hosts the Donn Handicap, which is another Kentucky Derby qualifier and this park has hosted the Breeders Cup several years.

When it comes to famous horse tracks, the most well-known is probably Churchill Downs in Kentucky, where the Kentucky Derby is run. Even people that aren’t familiar with horse racing have heard of the race and the track.

While there are other famous horse racing tracks in other parts of the world, such as Surrey, England where the Epsom Derby has been run for 220 years, no other country has adopted the sport, as much as the United States.

The famous racetracks in the United States were more popular in the earlier half of the century, when there were few other forms of entertainment, since the television and motion pictures were not widespread. Some of the most famous racehorses rose to fame during the Depression years, and few have gained the popularity since.

Born in 1982, Tim Tetrick has taken the harness racing world by storm. He grew up on the family farm in a harness racing family. He knew what he wanted to do for a living by the time he was five. He began by exercising the horses on the farm. His father, Tom Tetrick, is a longtime trainer and driver, and his brothers are well known drivers in the Midwest.

He started driving as a teenager in the Midwest because it was closer to his home in Illinois. Later, he moved to the East Coast and began working as many tracks as possible. It is not uncommon for him to drive several races at one track, hop in his truck and drive to another track and drive some more horses.

At the age of 25, he was already making a name for himself. At age 26 in 2007, he not only broke the record of the most wins in a single season (1,188), he broke the record for the most money earned in a single season as well. With all the record breaking, he added a few more to his collection… he has become the youngest driver to reach 3,000 lifetime wins, the youngest driver to win a million-dollar race, and the most driving wins in a single calendar month (120 races in June). Tim Tetrick is well on the way to possibly becoming one of the best drivers in harness racing history. He has already earned a .401 UDRS rating, which is similar to a baseball player batting .400. While this rating is not unheard of, it is extremely rare with anyone who has had more than 3,000 starts like Tetrick!

Tim Tetrick has won the Adioo Volo Filly Pace, the American National Stakes Trot, the American National Stakes Pace (twice), the Arden Downs Stakes Colt Pace, the Battle of the Brandywine Open Pace, the Breeders’ Crown Open Pace, and the Champlain Stakes Filly Pace. He has also mastered the Cinderella, the Pacing Classic Final, the Coaching Club Trotting Oaks, the Colonial, the Countess Adios, the Currier & Ives, the Helen Dancer Memorial, the James B. Dancer Memorial, and the Eternal Camnation.

Tim has continued to show his winning strategies in the Fox Stakes, the Ben Franklin Final, the Hanover Colt Stakes Colt Pace, the Hanover Filly Stakes Filly Trot, the Hayes Memorial Stakes Colt Pace, the Oliver Wendell Holmes, the Hoosier Stakes Colt Pace, the Horseman Stakes Open Pace, the Lismore Final and the Lady Catskill Final. He has also proved his mettle in the James Lynch Pace Final, the Matron Stakes Final, the Meadowlands Pace Final, the Nat Ray, the Little Pat, the Review Stakes, the W. N. Reynolds Memorial, the Art Rooney Pace Final, and the Shady Daisy.

Buying the wrong western saddle is a very common occurrence in the western riding world. It’s also a very expensive learning experience. You can skip this painful lesson by avoiding the top seven western saddle buying mistakes.

1. Buying Pretty. While we’d all like a nice looking saddle, letting looks drive your buying decision is asking for trouble. The quality of the saddle materials and the construction are far more important than the look of a saddle. A poorly made saddle can look awfully pretty, especially to the uninitiated. Don’t fall for this one.
2. Buying Image. Have dreams of riding the range and working a cattle drive? Or maybe riding to an NFR championship buckle in barrel racing? While the cowboy and cowgirl dreams and imagery can be strong and enticing, don’t let those images determine your saddle choice. Choose a saddle type that fits the actual type of riding that you’ll be doing.
3. Buying Cheap. Cheap saddles are not a bargain. Poor quality materials and construction will shorten saddle life, and, more importantly, will cause discomfort and impair movement in your horse. If you can’t afford at least a middle-of-the-road new saddle ($500 and up), then buying used is a great solution. Quality saddles last a long time, making buying a “pre-owned” saddle a smart buy.
4. Buying Dumb. You need to educate yourself on some saddle basics before buying. Ride in as many different saddles as you can. Talk to all the horse people you know about their saddles. Pick the brain of knowledgeable saddle folks. And, always, before purchasing a saddle, know the seller’s tryout and return policies.
5. Buying Selfish. You found a saddle that’s high quality, pretty, and fits you well. You’re all set right? Wrong. You’re forgetting one very important partner in this deal – your horse. If the saddle doesn’t fit your horse well, than the rest doesn’t matter. Make sure you understand the basics of horse fit and determine beforehand whether the saddle will be a good fit for your horse.
6. Buying One-Size-Fits-All. While you shouldn’t need a different saddle for every horse you ride, one saddle will not fit every horse you run across. The best approach is to choose a saddle that will fit the basic physical type of horse that you’ll ride. For instance, I ride Quarter Horses that are on the smaller size. I have a saddle that will fit most horses of this type. If you ride more than one type of horse, you’ll need multiple saddles.
7. Buying Brand (or Endorsement). This one is a little trickier. Buying a well-established brand is not a bad idea. You just need to be aware that a number of saddle brands have been around a long time and the quality of their saddles have varied significantly over time. The quality can also vary within a brand’s current product lines. They might have great roping saddles but just average barrel saddles. Never just blindly buy by brand without thoroughly inspecting the quality of the saddle in consideration. Additionally, celebrity endorsement can seem like a stamp of approval, but it really doesn’t mean more than that the celebrity is receiving payment for use of his or her name. Very few celebrities have any input into the design and construction of the saddles bearing their name.

Although it is true that betting on horses has gradually become a favorite pastime among many people but it can still get very intimidating. However once you learn the basics of horseracing, you would find that it is quite simple and easy to understand. Betting on horseracing is simple enough because you can find out the exact amount being bet on each and every horse participating in the race helping you to spot helpful trends that would aid in predicting the winners among the lot. Horse race betting is all about grabbing the right opportunities and having the ability to judge the results of a race.

Now there are two simple things that you need to know before you bet on any particular horse. It is crucial for you to understand horse racing odds and the term handicapping. Both shall help to increase the possibilities of winning and earning a good haul every time you head towards the racecourse. In this article, we try to explain both of these terms for you to better understand horse race betting and improve your chances of winning.

HORSE RACING ODDS:

On the tracks, horseracing odds would be offered in two different ways depending on where is it that you look. There would be simple odds like 6/1. This would mean that you would profit six dollars for every dollar that you invest. Know that the minimum bet at every track would be at least $2, which means that your profit would be double the listed odds. Also keep in mind that when odds are presented in this manner, they have been rounded down which implies that your actual profit would be a lot more than the posted odds.

The odds are also presented as the payout on a $2 bet. These odds are posted on the big tote board, which is usually located in the middle of the track as well as in some other places depending on the track. For example, if the listed price is $14.20 then you would make that much on a $2 bet if your horse wins. However, know that the listed prices are not the profit, but they also include the two dollars that you had invested.

The main key to racing odds is the fact that they are determined by a system named pari-mutuel system, which is just some fancy term for the words, mutual betting. This implies that the odds are actually determined by the betters.

HORSE RACE HANDICAPPING

This is the ability to figure or predict which particular racehorse is going to win the race on any given day under a certain set of conditions. The factors that would help determine the winning horse and the possible results is what horse race handicapping means.

It can be called an art form; there are specific ways to handicap horses plus specific ways to handicap special breeds of horses. Without the ability to judge and predict winners, horse races would simply lose their appeal. One form of horse race handicapping would be to make the horse carry an amount that could weigh them down while they run. It is important to take all the mundane factors into consideration to predict accurately.

So what’s the big deal? You walk in lay a couple bucks down on some faceless horse who’s name you picked off a sheet and then you collect a huge pot of money and go home, right?

If it really was that simple, don’t you think that everyone would just go bet on the ponies and drop the day jobs and make a living collecting winnings?

Betting the ponies is as much an art form as it is true gambling and there are some stead fast rules that you need to know and adhere to if you plan on spending time and ultimately money at a track. There is not really enough room here to more than scratch the surface, but here goes. For the most part, you can bet to WIN, PLACE, SHOW, ACROSS THE BOARD or WIN-PLACE.

WIN means your horse has to be number one across the line, PLACE means he has to be first or second and SHOW means first, second or third. If you bet on ACROSS THE BOARD that means any thing first, second or third and WIN-PLACE means if he finished first or second, you won.

Next we have the types of racing wagers, there is the EXACTA, the QUINELLA, the TRIFECTA, and the SUPERFECTA.

In an EXACTA, you are betting on two horses and they have to finish first and second in the order that you determine they will end. You can bet the EXACTA BOX in most cases where as long as your horses come in first and second, the order does not matter.

When you use the QUINELLA you are betting, again on two horses but they can finish first and second in either order, and you still win, much like the Exacta Box betting strategy.

The TRIFECTA, if you are following the progression here, should be easy for you to figure. Yes, you need to have your ponies come in First, Second and Third in order to make it a winning bet. Here again you can bet the TRIFECTA BOX and as long as your three horses come in first, second and third. It doesn’t matter which does what as long as the three you pick are one two and three you win.

The jury is still out on whether the American Quarter Horse is the first breed to be produced on American soil. Regardless, if it wasn’t the first horse to be bred here it was certainly one of the first, and its history traces back to before the earliest days of the American colonies, back to the official royal breeding farms established here by the Spanish.

Today, according to the American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA), there are more than 4,000,000 Quarter Horses registered worldwide, and approximately 150,000 Quarter Horse foals registered each year.

The Quarter Horse has a rich and varied pedigree, including Spanish Barbs, Colonial mid-Atlantic Quarter-Pathers, English Thoroughbreds, Andalusians, Mustangs, and Rhode Island Racing Stock, to name just a few.

While the Quarter Horse was established before the English Thoroughbred could have a significant influence on early breeding, the greatest influence on early Quarter Horses was Sir Archy, a distance horse to whom many of the greatest 19th and 20th century Quarter Horses can trace their lineage.

While Quarter Horses were initially used to race in shorter style races on the eastern seaboard, the longer, four-mile heats that came into fashion in the 1850s pushed the Quarter Horse to the sidelines while leggier horses such as the Thoroughbred prevailed. The Quarter Horse may have all but died out if settlers moving West hadn’t capitalized on the strength, quickness, and athleticism that made them naturals for pulling wagons and plows, managing livestock, and doing ranch work. As cattle ranching became in indispensable industry in the United States, so did the Quarter Horse.

Quarter Horse range in height from 14.2 hands to 17 hands, and typically weigh 1,000 to 1,500 pounds. The Quarter Horse is known for its short, fine head with small, alert ears and alert eyes set wide apart. The profile of the Quarter Horse is usually straight. The neck of the Quarter Horse is well-muscled, well-formed, and a bit arched. Well-defined withers are set prominently into a short, straight back. The croup is usually strong, muscular, and rounded, and drops subtly to the haunches. The wide, deep chest and long, muscular, and well-sloped shoulders are other characteristics of the Quarter Horse. The legs of the Quarter Horse are usually solid and well-formed, with very muscular thighs, gaskins, and forearms. The joints are broad and clean. Quarter Horse feet are usually strong and sturdy, though they can sometimes be smaller than body size warrants.

The most common color for Quarter Horses is sorrel, which makes up about one-third of all registered horses. The AQHA also recognizes bay, black, brown, chestnut, dun, red dun, grulla, buckskin, palomino, gray, red roan, blue roa, bay roan, cremello, and perlino.

White markings on the face and lower legs are not only permitted, they are quite common. AQHA does not allow white above the knee or hock, and white body patches are also not allowed.

The fact that Quarter Horses started out as short-distance race horses on the East Coast, moved to the West to specialize in ranch work, and now excel in every discipline imaginable is testament to the breed’s amazing versatility. While the breed is still best suited for ranch work, short distance racing, cutting, and reining, you can find Quarter Horses in the hunter jumper, dressage, park saddle, pleasure, and trail disciplines. Quarter Horses also have wonderful, willing, and calm temperaments and are good for riders of all ages and abilities.

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