46 NEBRASKA CATTLEMAN February 2024 PAST N ’ T H R H LISA BARD | NEBRASKA CATTLEMAN EDITOR They call it Nebraska’s Springtime Tradition – 12 weekends from Feb. 17 to May 4 that total 31 days of Thoroughbred racing at Fonner Park in Grand Island. Add that to live racing in Lincoln in the summer, Columbus in the fall and a few days at Horseman’s Park in Omaha, and Nebraskans can get a dose of the excitement, competition and thrill that is live Thoroughbred horse racing. Horse racing in Nebraska has a long history, with races first being held in Omaha at the old Ak-Sar-Ben track in 1919 and continuing until 1995. Racing at Fonner Park in Grand Island began in 1954 and continues to this day – even through the COVID pandemic in 2020. Most people associate horse racing in the United States with the West or East coasts, or regions in the Southeast, but Nebraska has no shortage of bright spots in racing history. Oldest of all Sports Horse racing is considered to be one of the oldest of all sports still in existence and can be traced back to the Olympic Games of Greece during 700 to 40 B.C. Racing of all forms, from chariot races, match races, steeplechase races, long-distance races, heat races and others were standards at various times and places in history, with most documented practices in Europe, Asia and the Middle East prior to the 17th century. Racing in North America came with the British occupation of what is now New York City in as early as 1664. Match races were the norm then, but with the onset of the modern age of racing in England in the 18th century and evolving over time, races eventually became what we know today – a race to the finish between a group of horses for a given distance. Racing in the United States did not really take off as an organized sport until after the Civil War and the onset of racehorse gambling. It enjoyed growing popularity until almost the end of the century but was greatly diminished in the early 20th century due to anti-gambling sentiment in the United States. However, this reversed after a few years and, by the end of World War I, horse racing was wildly popular. It dropped off again during the 1950s and ʻ60s, and resurged in the ʻ70s, in part due to the popularity of great horses such as Secretariat, Sham, Seattle Slew, Affirmed and Alydar. However, popularity of live horse racing has declined since the late 1980s, leaving small parks like Fonner important to the sport. e Horses Thoroughbred horses evolved from a mixture of Arab, Turk and Barb horses mixed with native British stock and were bred for their speed and stamina. They have traditionally been used for racing but are also used for show jumping, eventing, dressage, polo and other disciplines. Thoroughbreds were also instrumental in the development of other breeds, including the American Quarter Horse. Even today, a first-generation cross between a Thoroughbred and a Quarter Horse may be registered as an Appendix Quarter Horse. The American Quarter Horse is the most popular breed in the United States, and they are also raced, but against other Quarter Horses and typically at shorter distances than Thor-
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