Horse racing attracts a particular audience and events are only run in a handful of countries across the globe.
Each of those countries has its number one race, many of which have a several decades of history behind them.
The United States, Australia and United Kingdom have a wealth of history when it comes to professional sporting competitions, and horse racing is one of the oldest in each. Here is a look at some of their big racing events.
The Kentucky Derby
The Kentucky Derby dates back to 1875, inspired by the Epsom Derby and the Grand Prix de Paris at Longchamp. It now concludes the two-week long Kentucky Derby Festival.
Held annually, the race is a Grade 1 stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbreds at a distance of 2 kilometres taking place at Churchill Downs in Louisville.
Along with the Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes it makes up the United States’ Triple Crown.
This year’s event is expected to have a number of contenders after favourite Life is Good pulled out earlier this week. You can click here to get a full list of the horses which could win.
The Kentucky Derby usually attracts around 16 million viewers on TV each year, making it one of America’s biggest sporting events.
Melbourne Cup
The Melbourne Cup is the most famous Thoroughbred horse race in Australia. It has been held since 1861 and today attracts many of the best horses in the country to compete at the annual event.
Flemington Racecourse is 3,200 metres in distance with the winner of the race taking home $4.4 million in prize money plus a trophy worth $250,000. This year’s event is scheduled for Tuesday 3 November.
It is actually a public holiday for all those working within the Melbourne area which makes it unique among the three featured events.
The race attracts over 1 million television viewers locally which makes it one of Australia’s most popular sporting events. In comparison, the NRL Grand Final usually gets around 3 million viewers.
Cheltenham Gold Cup
The Gold Cup is part of the Cheltenham Festival and is the first major event on the British racing calendar each year, taking place in March. Cheltenham usually coincides with Saint Patrick’s Day.
This year’s race was won by Barry Maloney’s Minella Indo, ending Al Boum Photo’s back-to-back wins, with the latter finishing third in 2021.
The festival itself attracted a record TV viewership on the first day with a peak of 1.5 million tuning in to watch the Champions Hurdle which was won by Honeysuckle.
The four-day event dates back to 1860 when it was first held at Market Harborough. Although it was first held at Cheltenham the following year, it wasn’t until 1911 that the current racetrack officially became its home.
The Gold Cup itself wasn’t established until 1924 and today still only attracts horses from Great Britain, the Republic of Ireland and France to compete, whereas other top racing events in Britain attract many international contenders.