Horse races are competitions where trained horses and riders compete for prizes in an organized manner. Held on tracks or defined courses with obstacles that must be cleared before crossing the finish line, winners are determined by first horse to cross. Each country’s horse racing governing body establishes the rules that govern such competitions; though variations exist among various nations’ regulations for this sport.

Racetracks can be treacherous environments for horses. Racing requires them to run very quickly–far beyond their natural abilities–while also subjected to cocktails of legal and illegal drugs designed to mask injuries, improve performance, or mask side effects of drug usage on them. Horses used as racers are commonly called “bleeders”, as many suffer from exercise-induced pulmonary hemorrhage (EIPH). To address this condition, furosemide, commonly referred to by its brand name Lasix, can reduce bleeding while increasing speed during races.

Wild horses love to run. Prey animals that seek safety in numbers, they need each other for survival. But horses used in horse racing don’t live freely: They are domesticated and drugged before living in cages until race day, where speeds so high that injuries or even hemorrhaging in their lungs may result in injury and even death from hemorrhaging occur.

One of the greatest dangers associated with horse racing is its exposure of vulnerable children to betting, alcohol, and gambling – which can lead to psychological disorders and addictions in adulthood. Furthermore, jockeys routinely abuse horses with whips with excessive force; broken horses may suffer injuries that prevent them from finishing races, often being put down or sent for slaughter as food sources for both dogs and humans.

Races range from maiden to stakes races, each of which requires different characteristics in horses to compete at its level successfully. Good trainers understand it is best for their horses to start racing at the level where they will find success without forcing them beyond their capabilities.

At the racetrack, spectators cheer their favorite horse by number or, in the case of crowd-pleasing horses such as Seabiscuit, simply by shouting its name out loud. Some countries such as the UK offer handicap races whereby no particular number represents the odds of any specific horse winning; these handicap races have rules designed to ensure no advantage is gained by placing bets on specific outcomes.