Archives for March 8, 2010

Churchill Downs, pictured here, is one of the most famous race tracks in the United States. The mile race course opened in 1875 but is not the oldest. That honor goes to Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs , NY which was established in 1863. Horse racing has been around longer than basketball and football and at one time in the 50’s & 60’s it’s annual total attendance was greater than all sports, even baseball.

The track shown here is a mile on the dirt and 7 furlongs on the turf. There are 8 furlongs in a mile. Furlong comes from the Old English unit of measure. In the 1300’s England standardized a long list of measures including foot, yard, rod (there’s one we use every day), furlong (meaning “long furrow”) and mile. When you hear that a race is a mile and an eighth, then that would be (8+1=9) nine furlongs. Some of you might remember that stocks on the New York Stock Exchange were also measured in eighths a decade or so ago. Just a side note, in the UK races are run in the opposite direction to our country.

In 1890 there were 314 tracks across the country but today that number is only 95. And attendance has declined severely over the last 10 to 20 years. There are many factors that could be claimed as the cause of the decline. Whatever the reason, the focus of everyone in the sport should be to give this wonderful pastime the support and direction to bring it back.