The sport of horse racing is commonly referred to as “the most exciting 2 minutes of your life”, and honestly, while I’m sure that there’s going to be plenty of more exhilarating, personal moments in your life, there’s no denying that there’s always a very distinct sense of adrenaline that starts rushing through your body the moment the gates open and the horses start running forward, especially if the one you’re betting on ends up close to the lead. It’s a very similar feeling to when poker players start showing their hands, or the blackjack dealer is about to hit you with a card that’s either going to bust you or bring you to victory. I believe that most of us have experienced that rush of adrenaline at least once, and know that it’s a truly addictive feeling. Naturally, that small height of rush and excitement would make for a perfect dramatic material in fiction, which is why the sport of horse racing has been more popular in the media than any other form of gambling.
Perhaps the most famous movie about horse racing arrived in theaters all the way back in 1937, when director Sam Wood (who directed many, many critically acclaimed movies at the time) released “A Day At The Races”, starring the Marx Brothers. In it, a bunch of buffoons – through some classic Marx Bros. shenanigans – find themselves in a position where, unless a horse they bought wins a race, a beloved animal sanitarium will have to close down. It’s a movie that’s knee-deep in horse racing culture, and the scene in which one of the characters purchases a “hot tip” only to realize that he doesn’t understand a word from it and needs to decode it first, I believe, speaks to the beginner in all of us. At one point or another, we’ve all been this man! “A Day At The Races” didn’t receive a lot of love at the time, but has since come to be regarded as a Marx Brothers classic, with the AFI officially proclaiming it the 59th funniest movie of all time in 2000.
1937 may sound like it was a really long time ago, but you’d be surprised to learn that horse racing has been part of Hollywood for way longer than that. How much longer? Well, how about 1887? If you’re wondering whether movies even existed at the time, then allow me to answer and say no, they didn’t – but certain visionaries were really wanting them to. Enter Edward Muybridge, who had two things – a glorious beard and a brilliant idea. He decided to take several photographs of motion and then project them quickly one after another, creating the illusion of motion from still images. And what better way to convey that idea than by photographing a race horse with her rider? The final images, called “Daisy With Rider”, are what you see at the top of the page, as well as the very first motion picture ever made. At the end of the 19th century, when visionaries began to further experiment with movies, one of the first ones ever created was called “The Derby”, an 1895 motion picture depicting a horse race.
You could make the argument that cinema most certainly began with horse racing, but that’s hardly the limit of their relationship. Wikipedia lists exactly 160 movies that feature horse racing prominently, from 1887 all the way to the present day, with the movie “Stakes” being released in 2015 and telling the story of a young woman that serves as a horse trainer for the Australian horse racing community. But the influence of horse racing doesn’t stop at the big screen – many TV shows, from “The Simpsons” to “The Dukes of Hazzard” dedicating an episode to it. A favorite example of mine comes from the UK sitcom “Black Books”, which tells the story of a small bookstore and its staff. In the episode, Bernard – the store’s proprietor – receives a horse racing bet in his name, which sends him on a darkly humorous path that eventually involves the Mafia and a threat of broken legs (because that’s how Brits do comedy, really). At the end of the day, considering how big of a problem gambling addiction is (especially in the UK), it’s a bit refreshing to see a show treat the topic lightly.
There’s way, way more to cover. I haven’t even touched on videogames, such as “Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas”, where you can bet your dirty money on horse races, or the myriad of games in which you actually play a horse racer which go back to the 80s. But at the end of the day, if I honestly cover absolutely everything there is to cover, this article will jump to something like book-length, so I might as well put an end to it here before I carry on forever. I hope you guys found this informative and entertaining! What is your favorite piece of media involving horse racing?