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The Jockey Club

The Jockey Club is the breed Registry for Thoroughbred race horses in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. The organization is dedicated to the improvement of Thoroughbred horse breeding and horse racing in general, and it fulfills that mandate by serving many segments of the horse racing industry through its family of companies, charitable foundations and partnerships, including:

The Jockey Club – the breed registry for all Thoroughbreds foaled in North America. For more than a century, it has pursued its mission as an organization dedicated to the improvement of Thoroughbred horse breeding and horse racing, earning recognition as an industry leader for its competence and technological expertise.

The Jockey Club Information Systems – a leader in the provision of technology and information services to industry professionals, offering instant access to information and expertise to aid decision-making and improve Thoroughbred race horse management and promotion.

Equineline.com – the online marketplace for industry professionals, offering Internet-based equine management programs for race horse owners, race horse breeders, race horse trainers and race horse farms, as well as Equineline Reports which feature breeding, racing and sales information for Thoroughbreds and American Quarter Horses.

Equibase Company LLC – a partnership between The Jockey Club and the Thoroughbred Racing Associations of North America, serving as the Thoroughbred industry's official database for racing information.

TrackMaster – a wholly owned subsidiary of Equibase, and the only company to provide a complete line of handicapping products for the three major horse racing breeds - Thoroughbred, American Quarter Horse and Standardbred.

InCompass – a technology solutions company formed in 2001 to centralize the software applications and systems that serve North American racetracks and simulcast outlets, thereby helping these facilities achieve operational efficiencies, reduce costs and increase revenue.

The Jockey Club Technology Services – a technology company formed in 2002 to maximize the benefits of state-of-the-art communications and data management technology in support of the continued growth of The Jockey Club family of companies and the horse racing industry at large.

Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation – the nation's leading private source of equine research funding, having contributed more than $14 million to 35 universities over the last 25 years to underwrite 224 specific projects aimed at enhancing the health and safety of race horses.

The Jockey Club Foundation – a charitable trust created to provide financial relief to needy members of the Thoroughbred horse racing industry and their families. Over the last decade the foundation has helped over 1,000 individuals and their families with more than $8 million in support.

Through the combination of these entities, The Jockey Club is responsible for maintaining The American Stud Book, which includes all Thoroughbreds born in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico) as well as those imported into those countries from nations around the world that maintain similar Thoroughbred registries, including Britain, Hong Kong and many others.

NOTE: Another reputable organization helping to better the horse racing industry as a whole is Horse Racing Simulation which offers horse racing fans a real-world online simulation virtual horse racing to teach people how the sport works and to foster the next generation of horse racing enthusiasts.

With its family of companies and additional resources from the Breeders’ Cup Limited, Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association, Keeneland Association, Oak Tree Racing Association and the National Thoroughbred Association, The Jockey Club formed the National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA) in 1998. The NTRA lobbies on behalf of the horse racing industry and sets the rules for horse racing throughout the United States.

Membership in The Jockey Club is by invitation only and includes approximately 100 individuals distinguished by their contributions to Thoroughbred horse breeding and horse racing. However, you do not need to be a member of The Jockey Club to own, breed, race, sell or otherwise participate in the Thoroughbred horse racing industry.

American Stud book

The American Stud Book dates back to the Jockey Club's inception and contains the descendants of those race horses listed, as well as horses imported into North America up to the present. The Registry is consulted by multiple horse breeders in determining which matings to advance and which to avoid. The book also serves as a rule guide of sorts to the horse racing industry in the U.S. as it articulates and enforces the mandates by which the sport is run today. Some of these rules cover areas such as horse registration eligibility, racing permits, fees to register, transfer and report of ownership, import and export requirements, deceptive practices and more.

Participants in the Registry program agree to allow the Jockey Club to conduct genetic testing to verify parentage as well as arbitrating any disputes between horse racing owners. The Jockey Club has taken the position that it will not allow for cloned thoroughbreds to be registered in the Stud Book, making it impossible for such horses to compete in most races. The Club has consistently prohibited artificial insemination throughout its history, only allowing the registration of horses through "natural" procreation.

The stud book ensures the correct pedigree and identification of every Thoroughbred race horse and is essential to the integrity of Thoroughbred horse breeding and horse racing.

North American owners and breeders register approximately 37,000 Thoroughbreds annually with The Jockey Club and the registry. Many are choosing to do so through the Club’s Interactive Registration site accessible via the Internet. It is the quickest and easiest way to complete and submit the requirements for registration and naming of horses.

One of the site’s most popular features is the Online Names Book, which lets users browse The Jockey Club's database of approximately 430,000 names in active use.

National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA)

NTRA is the main governing body of Thoroughbred horse racing in the United States. They are also the main governing body of the Breeders' Cup World Championships. The NTRA umbrella includes other groups like the American Quarter Horse Association. The NTRA sets rules, monitors membership, organizes races, and promotes professional Thoroughbred horse racing. Furthermore, it also licenses Thoroughbred breeders, sells racing merchandise amongst other things.

The NTRA was formed in 1998 and along with its sister company, Breeders' Cup Limited, the NTRA hosts the Breeders' Cup World Championship races.

The Foundation Sires

In addition to the horse racing governing bodies discussed thus far, the horse racing sport also owes its growth and success to the founding fathers of Thoroughbreds – the Foundation Sires, which include the Byerley Turk, Darley Arabian, and Godolphin Arabian. All three were brought to England in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries and crossed with English and imported mares. While it's true that all modern Thoroughbreds descend in tail-male line to one of these stallions, upwards of 200 stallions, Arabians, Barbs, Turks, and others, were imported into England and are so noted in the General Stud Book (the original breed registry of the United Kingdom for horses).

A. Byerley Turk

First to arrive in England, the Byerley Turk got his name from his owner, Colonel Byerley, who captured him from the Turks at the Battle of Buda. For several years the colonel used the horse as his charger, and later when he retired from the Army in 1690, as a stallion.

B. Darley Arabian

The Darley Arabian was described after he had been sent home to England in 1704 by Thomas Darley, as a "horse of exquisite beauty." This horse is the only one of the three Thoroughbred foundation sires whose actual lineage has never been established - although some controversy surrounds it.

C. Godolphin Arabian

The origin of the third of the foundation sires, the Godolphin Arabian, is even more obscure than the other two. When the Godolphin Arabian landed in England in 1729, he had lowly career behind him. Sultan Muley Abdulah of Morocco had presented the young King Louis XV of France with eight Oriental horses and some camels from his residence at Maknes. Among these was the Arab stallion El Sham. He ultimately found his way to the stables of Lord Godolphin, where he was used as a teaser.

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American Thoroughbred Racing: Beginnings

In the mid to late 1800s, the rapid rise of an industrial economy led to gambling on racehorses, and therefore a rise in horse racing itself. In fact, by 1890, the sport grew explosively culminating in the development of 314 tracks across America.

However, the rapid growth of horse racing without any central governing authority led to the domination of many tracks by criminal elements. In fact, in the early 1900s racing in the United States was almost wiped out by corruption and subsequent antigambling sentiment that led almost all states to ban bookmaking. By 1908 the number of tracks had plummeted from 314 to just 25.

That same year, however, the introduction of pari-mutuel betting for the Kentucky Derby signaled a turnaround for the sport. More tracks opened as many state legislatures agreed to legalize pari-mutuel betting in exchange for a share of the money wagered.

By the end of World War I, this prosperity and great race horses like Man o' War brought spectators flocking to horse racing tracks. The sport did quite well until World War II, when it began to decline in popularity again during the 1950s and 1960s. By the 1970s the sport again enjoyed a resurgence triggered by the immense popularity of great horses such as Secretariat, Seattle Slew, and Affirmed, each winners of the American Triple Crown -- the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness, and the Belmont Stakes.

American Thoroughbred Racing: Today

Today, thoroughbred tracks exist in about half the states in America, as do a growing base of horse racing game enthusiasts. Public interest in the sport focuses primarily on major Thoroughbred races such as the American Triple Crown and the Breeder's Cup races (begun in 1984), which offer purses of up to about $1,000,000. In recent years the Breeders' Cup races, held at the end of the year, have been challenging the Triple Crown events, held early in the year, as determiners of the three-year-old champion. They also have an important effect on the selection of other annual champions.

The corresponding standardbred event is the Breeders' Crown. There are also a Triple Crown of Harness Racing for Pacers and a Triple Crown of Harness Racing for Trotters.

American betting on horse racing is sanctioned and regulated today by state governments, almost always through legalized pari-mutuel gambling. State racing commissions have sole authority to license participants and grant horse racing dates, while sharing the appointment of horse racing officials and the supervision of racing rules with the Jockey Club. The Jockey Club retains authority over the horse breeding of Thoroughbreds.

Thoroughbred horse racing in the United States has its own Hall of Fame for horses, jockeys, and trainers – as does the exciting virtual horse racing game playable at www.sim2win.com.

Horse racing continues to go strong and win over new bettors each year, as people are drawn to the spirit and courage it takes to compete in horse racing and the brave racing horses themselves.

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American Triple Crown

The Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing (although sometimes shortened to Triple Crown, the full name is used to avoid possible confusion with other sports) consists of three races for three-year-old thoroughbred race horses. Winning all three of these thoroughbred horse races is considered the greatest accomplishment of a thoroughbred racehorse. In recent years, the Triple Crown has become a very rare achievement, with most horses specializing in a limited range of distances.

In the United States, the Triple Crown consists of three major competitions:

The Kentucky Derby, at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky;

The Preakness Stakes, at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland;

The Belmont Stakes, at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York.

The Triple Crown starts with the Kentucky Derby on the first Saturday of May. The Preakness follows two weeks later. The Belmont Stakes is five weeks after the Kentucky Derby in early June.

The Kentucky Derby

The Kentucky Derby is a Grade I stakes horse race for three-year-old thoroughbred race horses, held annually in Louisville, Kentucky, on the first Saturday in May, capping the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. The race is one and a quarter miles (2 km) at Churchill Downs. Colts and geldings carry 126 pounds (57.2 kg) and fillies 121 pounds (54.9 kg). The race is known in the United States as "The Most Exciting Two Minutes in Sports" for its approximate duration, and is also called "The Run for the Roses" for the blanket of roses draped over the winner. It is the first leg of the Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing in the U.S. and typically draws around 155,000 fans.

Kentucky has been a major center of horse breeding and horse racing since the late 18th century. From the time the region was settled, the fields of the Bluegrass region were noted for producing superior race horses. In 1872, Col. Meriwether Lewis Clark, Jr., grandson of William Clark of the Lewis and Clark expedition, traveled to England, visiting the Epsom Derby, a famous race that had been running annually since 1780. From there, Clark went on to Paris, France, where in 1863, a group of horse racing enthusiasts had formed the French Jockey Club and had organized the Grand Prix de Paris, which at the time was the greatest race in France.

Returning home to Kentucky, Clark organized the Louisville Jockey Club for the purpose of raising money to build quality racing facilities just outside of the city. The track would soon become known as Churchill Downs, named for Meriwether Lewis Clark Jr.'s relatives, John and Henry Churchill, who had provided the land for the racetrack. Officially, the racetrack was incorporated as Churchill Downs in 1937.

The Kentucky Derby was first run at 1.5 miles (2.4 km), the same distance as the Epsom Derby and the Grand Prix de Paris. In 1896, the distance was changed to its current 1.25 miles (2 km). On May 17, 1875, in front of an estimated crowd of 10,000 people, a field of 15 three-year-old horses contested the first Derby. Under African-American jockey Oliver Lewis, a colt named Aristides, who was trained by future Hall of Famer, Ansel Williamson, won the inaugural Derby. Later that year, Lewis rode Aristides to a second-place finish in the Belmont Stakes.

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Churchill Downs in 1901

Although the first race meet proved a success, the track ran into financial difficulties and in 1894 the New Louisville Jockey Club was incorporated with new capitalization and improved facilities. Despite this, the business floundered until 1902 when Col. Matt Winn of Louisville put together a syndicate of businessmen to acquire the facility. Under Winn, Churchill Downs prospered and the Kentucky Derby became the preeminent Thoroughbred horse race in America.

Between 1875 and 1902, African-American jockeys won 15 of the 28 runnings of the Kentucky Derby. On May 11, 1892, African-American jockey Alonzo "Lonnie" Clayton, age 15, became the youngest rider to win the Derby. The 1904 race was won by Elwood, the first Derby starter and winner owned by a woman, Laska Durnell. In 1915, Regret became the first filly to win the Kentucky Derby, and in 1917, the English bred colt "Omar Khayyam" became the first foreign-bred horse to win the race.

Derby participants are limited to three-year-old horses. No horse since Apollo in 1882 has won the Derby without racing at age two.

As part of gaining income, horse owners began sending their successful Derby horses to compete a few weeks later in the Preakness Stakes at the Pimlico Race Course, in Baltimore, Maryland, followed by the Belmont Stakes in Elmont, New York. The three races offered the largest purse and in 1919 Sir Barton became the first horse to win all three races. However, the term Triple Crown didn't come into use for another 11 years. In 1930, when Gallant Fox became the second horse to win all three races, sportswriter Charles Hatton brought the phrase into American usage. Fueled by the media, public interest in the possibility of a "superhorse" that could win the Triple Crown began in the weeks leading up to the Derby. Two years after the term was coined, the race, which had been run in mid-May since inception, was changed to the first Saturday in May to allow for a specific schedule for the Triple Crown races.

On May 3, 1952, the first national television coverage of the Kentucky Derby took place. In 1954, the purse exceeded $100,000 for the first time. In 1968 Dancer's Image became the first (and to this day the only) horse to win the race and then be disqualified after traces of phenylbutazone, an analgesic and anti-inflammatory drug, were found in the horse's urinalysis; unexpectedly, the regulations at Kentucky thoroughbred race tracks were changed some years later, allowing horses to run on phenylbutazone.

The fastest time ever run in the Derby (at its present distance) was set in 1973 at 1 minute 59 2/5 seconds when Secretariat broke the record set by Northern Dancer in 1964. Not only has Secretariat's record time stood for 34 years and counting, but in the race itself, he did something unique in Triple Crown races: each successive quarter, his times were faster.

The 2004 Derby marked the first time that jockeys, as a result of a court order, were allowed to wear corporate advertising logos on their clothing.

In 2005, the purse distribution for the Derby was changed, so that horses finishing fifth would henceforth receive a share of the purse; previously only the first four finishers did so.

The Preakness Stakes

The Preakness Stakes is an American Grade I stakes 1-3/16 mile (1.91 km) Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-old racing horses, held on the third Saturday in May each year at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland. Colts and geldings carry 126 pounds (57 kg); fillies 121 lb (55 kg). The Preakness Stakes has been termed "The Run for the Black-Eyed Susans" because a horseshoe of black-eyed susans (Rudbeckia hirta), the state flower of Maryland, is traditionally placed around the winner's neck. This year's race, which was held on Saturday May 19, 2007, was race 12[1] with a post time of 6:09 PM and featured a field of nine horses.

The Preakness is the second and shortest leg in American Thoroughbred racing's Triple Crown and almost always attracts the Kentucky Derby winner, some of the other horses that ran in the Derby, and often a few horses that did not start in the Derby. (The phrase "Triple Crown" was not applied to this series of races until the 1930s.) It is followed by the third leg, the Belmont Stakes.

Two years before the Kentucky Derby was run for the first time, Pimlico introduced its new stakes race for three-year-olds, the Preakness, during its first-ever spring race meet in 1873. Former Maryland Governor Oden Bowie named the then mile and one-half (2.41 km) race in honor of the colt Preakness from Milton Holbrook Sanford's Preakness Stables in Preakness, Wayne Township, New Jersey who won the Dinner Party Stakes on the day Pimlico Race Course opened on October 25, 1870.

The first Preakness drew seven starters; John Chamberlain's three-year-old, Survivor, galloped home easily by 10 lengths, the largest margin of victory until 2004, winning a purse of $2,050.

In 1889, George "Spider" Anderson became the first African-American jockey to win the Preakness. In 1890 Morris Park Racetrack in the Bronx, New York hosted the race but, for the next three years, no Preakness Stakes was run. For the 15 years from 1894 through 1908, the race was held at Gravesend Race Track on Coney Island, New York.

Just after the horses for the Preakness are called to the post, the audience is invited to sing "Maryland, My Maryland," the official state song of Maryland. Traditionally, the United States Naval Academy Glee Club assembles in the Pimlico infield to lead the song.

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The Belmont Stakes

The Belmont Stakes is a prestigious American Grade I stakes race held yearly in June at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. The race is the third leg of the Triple Crown, following five weeks after the Kentucky Derby, and three weeks after the Preakness Stakes. It is a 1.5 mile (2.4 km) thoroughbred horse race for three-year-old colts and geldings carrying a weight of 126 pounds (57 kg) and for fillies with a weight of 121 pounds (55 kg). This year's race was held on Saturday June 9th, 2007 and won by Rags to Riches, the first filly to win the race since 1905 (and the third filly ever).

The Belmont Stakes is called the "Run for the Carnations" because of the blanket of white carnations that are draped over the winner's neck. Through 1996, the post parade song was "Sidewalks of New York." Beginning in 1997, the audience was invited to sing the Theme from New York, New York following the call to the post. This tradition mirrors the singing of two other songs at the post parades of the first two Triple Crown races, My Old Kentucky Home at the Kentucky Derby and Maryland, My Maryland at the Preakness Stakes.

The first Belmont Stakes was held at Jerome Park Racetrack in The Bronx, built in 1866 by stock market speculator Leonard Jerome (1817-1891) and financed by August Belmont, Sr. (1816-1890) for whom the race was named. The race continued to be held at Jerome Park until 1890 when it was moved to the nearby facility, Morris Park Racetrack. The race remained there until the May 1905 opening of the new Belmont Park, 430 acre (1.7 km²) racetrack in Elmont, New York.

Anti-betting legislation was passed in New York State, closing Belmont and canceling the race for two years between 1911 and 1912.

The first post parade in the United States was at the 14th Belmont, in 1880. Until 1921, the race was run in the clockwise tradition of English racing.

The race was run "English style" or in a clock-wise direction, until 1921, with the winner Grey Lag, which was the first time the Belmont was run in the American or counter-clockwise direction.

Since 1926, a silver bowl, made by Louis Comfort Tiffany and donated by the Belmont family, has been given to the winning owner. Atop the bowl's cover is a silver figure of Fenian, winner of the third running of the Belmont Stakes in 1869. The bowl is supported by three horses - Herod, Eclipse and Matchem, representing the three foundation sires of the thoroughbred world, the Byerly Turk, the Darley Arabian and the Godolphin Barb.

Because of its length (one lap around the enormous Belmont main track), and because it is the final horse race of the Triple Crown, it is called the "Test of the Champion". Most three-year-olds are unaccustomed to the distance, and lack the experience, if not the ability, to maintain a winning speed for so long. In a long race such as the Belmont, positioning of the horse and the timing of the move to chase for the lead can be critical.

The race distance has varied: from 1867 until 1873, it was 1? miles (2.6 km). In 1874 the distance was reduced to 1½ miles (2.4 km), and from 1890 to 1892, and in 1895, the distance was 1¼ miles (2 km). From 1896 until 1925, the distance was increased to 1 3/8 miles (2.3 km). In 1926, the race distance was set at the present 1½ miles (2.4 km).

Due to the reconstruction of Belmont from 1963-1967, the race was held at Aqueduct Racetrack.

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