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All racehorses belong to the Throughbred breed and are descendants of one of the three foundation sires, the Darley Arabian, Byerley Turk, and Godolphin Arabian, which were imported to England and crossed with native European mares. In terms of confirmation, or physical attributes, Thoroughbred racehorses are characterised by lean bodies, broad chests, short, curved backs.and long legs. The weight of a Thoroughbred racehorse depends, to varying degrees, on its pedigree, age, gender, height and the discipline for which it is trained.

Traditionally, racehorses destined to compete in National Hunt racing were bred specifically for the purpose and, as such, were stronger, skeletally, and more robust, generally, than their Flat racing counterparts. Even with the modern emphasis on speed, this is still true, albeit to a less extent. In any case, the demands of National Hunt racing, in terms of stamina and jumping ability, dctate that most racehorses do not reach their peak until they are between seven and ten years old. Thus, while it is dangerous to generalise, hurdlers and steeplechasers do typically appear larger and sturdier than younger Flat horses.

Even on the Flat, some Thoroughbreds are naturally suited to running shorter, sprint distances, while others are better suited to running longer, staying distances. Sprinters typically have bulky muscles, a vertically deep girth and slightly shorter legs, conducive to a faster stride rate. Stayers, by contrast, have long, thin muscles, a shallow girth and a leggy appearance. Thus, while a mature Thoroughbred racehorse typically weighs between 900lb and 1,200lb, on average, there may always be lighter or heavier horses in training.

Horse racing is a truly ancient sport, which has been in existence, in one form or another, since horses were domesticated approximately 6,000 years ago. As such, its beginnings are lost in antiquity, although the Jockey Club cites Central Asia, c.4500 BCE, as a likely starting point.

Guinness World Records (GWR) makes reference to horsemanship in the Hittite Empire in Anatolia, or Asia Minor, from c.1400 BCE onwards and horse racing at the ancient Olympic Games in Greece from c.700BCE onwards, as does, in the latter case, Encyclopaedia Britannica. GWR also lists the earliest horse race recorded in Britain as a contest among Arabian horses imported by the Roman emperor by Lucius Septimius Severus at Netherby, in Cumbria, North West England in c.210CE.

Indeed, Arabian horses brought back from the Crusades, c.1096CE to c.1291CE, would prove fundamental to the establishment of organised horse racing in Britain and elsewhere in Europe. The earliest horse races were straightforward contests of speed and/or stamina between two horses, run to settle a wager between their owners.

The ‘Merry Monarch’, King Charles II, who was restored to the throne in 1660CE, also earned the epithet ‘Father of the English Turf’, by virtue of having founded what is now the Nemarket Town Plate, for which prize money was awarded, in 1665. A little over a century later, the first three British Classic races, the St. Leger (1776), the Oaks (1779) and the Derby (1780), were founded and so began the modern era of horse racing.

More often that not, in horse racing, the question of how high a horse can jump is more important than how far it can jump. That said, certain obstacles, such as the Water Jump on the Grand National Course at Aintree, require horses to cover over three times more ground horizontally than vertically. According to the Fédération Equestre Internationale, the world record for long jump over water is 27′ 7″, set by Something, ridden by Andre Ferreira, in Johannesburg, South Africa on 25 April 1975. Thus, the 8′ 10″ wide expanse of water at Aintree is rarely problematic for seasoned steeplechasers.

The Fédération Equestre Internationale likewise lists the world record for high jump as 8′ 1″, a height achieved by Huaso, ridden by Captain Alberto Larraguibel Morales, Viña del Mar, Chile on February 5, 1949.To put that height into perspective, in National Hunt racing, steeplechase fences must be a minimum of 4′ 6″ high and the tallest fence on the Grand National Course, The Chair, stands 5’2″ high. In show jumping, horses are typically required to clear heights between 3′ and 5′, although the best of them can clear over 6′.

How high a horse can jump depends on its conformation or, in other words, its physical structure and build, its natural ability and its training, or ‘schooling’. In National Hunt racing, jumping obstacles off an interrupted stride is ideal, but not always possible, so horses receive extensive schooling to teach them to naturally shorten their stride and jump successfully regardless of the circumstances.

Horses are prey animals and, as such, are naturally flighty. In other words, in the absence of other defences, they have fast reaction times and are predisposed to run away from danger – which, in the wild, includes natural predators, such as bears, mountain lions and wolves – as their primary means of survival.

According to Guinness World Records, the highest speed recorded for a Thoroughbred racehorse in a race was the 43.97mph achieved by Winning Brew, over two furlongs, at Penn National Race Course in Grantville, Pennsylvania on May 14, 2008. However, the fastest domestic horse, the American Quarter Horse, has been clocked at speeds up to 57.9 mph over similarly short distances.

That figure is not quite as the fast as the cheetah, which is remarkably athletic and can accelerate very rapidly up to their top speed of 75 mph, albeit over just a few hundred yards at a time. It does, however, compare favourably with that of other prey animals, such as the springbok, proghorn and wilderbeest, which can hit speeds between 50 and 55mph when sprinting to elude predators.

Speaking of predators, mountain lions, which are native to the Americas, can run at up to 50 mph when hunting prey, as can their African counterparts. Bears, notably grizzly bears, and wolves are a little slower, but can still hit speeds between 35 and 40mph, in the case of the latter for miles at a time. By contrast, the fastest man on Earth, Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt, clocked a paltry 23.35mph when setting the 100-metre world record.