| Settlers from Britain who brought horses and | | | | tracks opened as many state legislatures |
| horse racing with them to the American New | | | | promised to legitimize pari-mutuel betting in |
| World, with the first race track laid out on Long | | | | exchange for a share of the hard cash wagered. |
| Island as early as 1665. While the sport became a | | | | At the end of World War I, prosperity and great |
| social local pursuit, the progression of organized | | | | horses like Man o' War brought spectators flocking |
| racing did not appear until after the Civil War. (The | | | | to horse racing tracks. The sport prospered until |
| American Stud Book was begun in 1868.) For the | | | | World War II, dropped in popularity during the |
| next several decades, with the prompt rise of an | | | | 1950s and 1960s, then enjoyed a resurgence in |
| industrial economy, gambling on racehorses, and | | | | the 1970s triggered by the immense popularity of |
| therefore horse racing itself, grew explosively; by | | | | great horses such as Secretariat, Seattle Slew, |
| 1890, 314 tracks were functioning across the | | | | and Affirmed, each winners of the American |
| country. | | | | Triple Crown--the Kentucky Derby, the |
| The prompt growth of the sport without any | | | | Preakness, and the Belmont Stakes. During the |
| fundamental governing authority led to the | | | | late 1980s, another significant decline occurred, |
| domination of various tracks by criminal elements. | | | | however. |
| In 1894 the nation's most notable track and stable | | | | Thoroughbred tracks exist in about half the |
| owners met in New York to form an American | | | | states. Public attraction in the sport focuses |
| Jockey Club, modelled on the English version, | | | | primarily on major Thoroughbred races such as |
| which soon controlled racing with an iron hand and | | | | the American Triple Crown and the Breeder's Cup |
| ended much of the criminality. | | | | races (begun in 1984), which offer purses of up |
| In the early 1900s, however, racing in the United | | | | to about $1,000,000. State racing commissions |
| States was almost wiped out by antigambling | | | | have sole authority to license participants and |
| opinion that led almost all states to ban | | | | approve racing dates, while sharing the |
| bookmaking. By 1908 the number of tracks had | | | | appointment of racing officials and the supervision |
| fallen to just 25. That same year, however, the | | | | of racing rules with the Jockey Club. The Jockey |
| entrance of pari-mutuel betting for the Kentucky | | | | Club retains authority over the breeding of |
| Derby signalled a reversal for the sport. More | | | | Thoroughbreds. |