Horse races are an ancient athletic competition in which horses vie to cross the finish line first. One of the world’s oldest sports, it has evolved from primitive competition between two horses into modern events featuring thousands of runners running on large racetracks with sophisticated electronic monitoring equipment – but its popularity has recently declined as more people find alternative forms of entertainment.

Racing has made significant improvements, yet still suffers from the stigma that it is an uncaring industry that profits by overbreeding and slaughtering horses. Public awareness has resulted in growing demands for reform and horse racing is losing fans, revenue and races as a result.

However, the industry has made substantial investments to improve its image and appeal to younger spectators. Unfortunately, however, recent survey results found that horse racing was one of the least-popular spectator sports in America after professional and college team sports; as a result, horse racing industry has struggled to adapt to changing consumer preferences as well as compete with alternative forms of entertainment.

Prior to the American Civil War, horse racing in America was dominated by stamina rather than speed. Following WWII, however, horse racing was reorganized and focused on winning the Triple Crown of horse racing which encompasses wins at Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes races. Since its inaugural awarding in 1930 only eleven horses have achieved it successfully.

Horse racing is governed by an official set of regulations known as a rulebook that dictates how horses should be trained, ridden and races should take place. Although different national organizations may vary slightly in their rules implementations, all are based on the original British rulebook.

Betting on horse races is an integral component of the industry and an invaluable revenue stream for track owners. Bettors can place various bets, such as win, place and show bets as well as multiple bets at once using an accumulator bet; how much money bettors receive depends on how many places their bet is correct.

Also used within the betting booth and track are several terms such as “good trip” and “bad trip,” where “good trip” refers to horses that encountered no unusual issues during their race while “bad trip” indicates they needed to work harder than expected to reach the front of their field.

Racing terminology includes the term “dead heat,” which refers to races where no horse won by an identifiable margin. When this occurs, photographs taken of the finish are studied by stewards in order to determine which horse crossed first; their decision cannot be appealed or changed in any way.