Horse Racing

A day at the races is a pastime that has been celebrated for centuries, dating back to Roman times. Popular all over the world, it won't be hard to find a race track somewhere in your area of stay to go and watch a race. Because horse racing is synonymous with gambling, expect to bring a bit of cash with you to the races in order to have some fun. Unlike casino gambling, which often has terrible odds, betting on horses can be fun and provides much more excitement than playing cards or pulling a slot machine lever in a casino. 

Betting is a quintessential part of horse racing and you can find out all you need to know from boards placed outside the betting offices. Depending on the horses you bet on, you can stand to win a lot of money if you know what you're doing. But, betting isn't everything in horse racing. Half of the fun comes from just watching the horses and jockeys sprint around the track, pushing themselves to their very limits, and seeing who is the true competitor and winner. 

There are major horse races around the world every year, the most notable being the Kentucky Derby in the United States and the Breeder's Cup. If you manage to get tickets to one of these events, they are very prestigious and will require quite a bit of preparation. Often considered to be very elite events, a simple shirt and shoes just won't do like they do for your average local race track. Etiquette is expected and plush attire is a must. For those not looking for a dress up event, there are plenty of other year round horsing events that don't have any type of special attire required. 

Racing happens on many different types of tracks including the traditional oval in which horses participate in a number of laps around a track and the first one to the end wins. There are also sprint competitions in which horses run in a straight line from one end of a track to the other and endurance races in which horses are pushed to their limits for extended periods of time. 

Whatever type of horse racing you're looking for, the popularity of the sport has spread across the world and finding a race near you shouldn't prove difficult.