Horse Race Coverage and How it Affects Elections

A horse race is a contest of speed between horses that are ridden by jockeys or pulled by sulkies and their drivers. It is a long-established sport, dating back at least to ancient Greece. It has developed into a modern spectacle, involving large fields of runners, sophisticated electronic monitoring equipment, and huge sums of money. However, its basic concept remains the same. The horse that crosses the finish line first wins.

When journalists covering elections focus primarily on who’s winning or losing instead of policy issues — what’s known as horse race coverage — voters, candidates and the news industry itself suffer, a growing body of research suggests. Here, we look at some of that research and how it might inform the way the election is reported.

One of the oldest forms of racing was a match race, where owners provided two or three horses for a simple wager. The agreement was recorded by disinterested third parties, who came to be called keepers of the match book. Later, more races were held, and rules were established for determining eligibility, such as age, sex, birthplace and previous performance. In some cases, an owner who withdrew from a race forfeited half of the purse, or even the entire purse.

By the 18th century, demand for more public racing produced open events with larger fields of runners. Eligibility rules for these races grew more complex, including restrictions on the number of horses in a field and a requirement that horses had not won a specific amount. This increased competition for the largest purses led to the development of handicapping, which awarded more points for slower horses and less for faster ones.

The science of handicapping is complex, but the basic idea is that you try to predict which horses will be fast or slow, and then bet accordingly. The key is to take the best available odds and try to balance them against the likelihood that a particular horse will win. That’s why it’s a good idea to check out the odds for each race you plan to bet on before placing your bets.

Despite the popularity of the sport, horse racing continues to be controversial for animal rights supporters and others who are concerned about the treatment of racing horses. In the wild, horses are prey animals, and their instinct to run away from danger is strong. But on a racetrack, humans perched on their backs compel them to run at breakneck speeds, and they often get hurt.

While awareness about the suffering of horses at the track has increased, it is still a problem. In addition to the physical injuries, which can include traumatic brain injury, chronic limb damage and degenerative joint changes, there are also psychological injuries. These can manifest as repetitive, compulsive behavior like cribbing and biting, or pacing, self-harming or even suicide. To protest these conditions, groups such as Horseracing Wrongs organize anti-horse racing demonstrations at Laurel and Pimlico most weekends.