A horse race is a sport in which horses are driven at high speeds by jockeys on their backs to compete with other horses and win bettors’ money. The horse that crosses the finish line first is deemed the winner. Some races are short, while others are long distances and considered tests of speed and stamina.

Horse races are usually run on a flat track, although some include hurdles or other obstacles. They start at starting gates, which are placed horizontally across the track and open at a predetermined time to allow the horses to enter. Horses then begin racing as hard as they can for the length of the race, with some saving energy for a sprint known as the home stretch. The winner is the horse that crosses the finish line with its nose.

The most popular horse races are those that take place on a dirt surface, but turf and synthetic tracks are also used in some places. Some races are held in the United States, while others take place throughout Europe and Asia. The most famous and prestigious races are the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in France, the Kentucky Derby in America, the Melbourne Cup and Caulfield Cup in Australia, the Gran Premio Internacional Carlos Pellegrini in Argentina, and the Tokyo Gold Cup in Japan.

While human athletes are often motivated to win and beat their personal bests, there is no such incentive for a horse. The winning time of a race is the result of many complex inputs including the horse’s own innate ability to run modified by human and environmental factors such as its position in the starting gate, the ‘going’ (the surface on which the race is held), tactics, and other riders. In addition, a horse’s weight is another major variable, with heavier horses generally having slower times.

Linear regression analysis has shown that for most horse races the improvement in winning time slowed down significantly after 1949; however, this pattern is not always consistent, and there are a number of exceptions such as the mile and 10K. The reason for this slowing down is not completely clear, but Gaffney and Cunningham have suggested that insufficient genetic variance through generations of inbreeding may have played a role.

The revelations about trainer Steve Asmussen’s alleged treatment of his world-class thoroughbreds have come as a shock to many in the racing community, and have brought renewed attention to the need for serious reform to ensure that horse racing is both fair and safe for all animals involved. In the end, though, it is the horses, who are forced to run so fast that they are often injured and can even hemorrhage from their lungs, that must be protected. Behind the romanticized facade of Thoroughbred horse racing, there is a world of drugs, injuries, and cruelty that must be addressed. The vast majority of people who work in the industry see wrongdoing and try to do right by the horses, but there is a small, feral minority that still has the power to stain the integrity of the sport.