Throughout the course of History the noble sport of thoroughbred horseracing has developed from the sport of kings into the king of sports, reaching a pinnacle of perfection on only a few occasions and on a very select number of racecourses throughout the world.

The first Tuesday in November; it's the one day of the year, a day on which Australia comes to a virtual standstill, if for only a few minutes, when the imagination of an entire nation is captivated by the exhilarating spectacle of a pack of graceful thoroughbred horses as they strive towards the finish line and the history books.

It is of course the Melbourne Cup; the jewel in the crown of Melbourne's internationally celebrated Spring Racing Carnival and an event that proudly takes its place amongst a select few horse races throughout the world. The 'Sport of Kings' reaches its zenith on few occasions throughout the year; at England's Epsom Racetrack on Derby Day, in Paris at Longchamp during the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, during the running of the Kentucky Derby on that state's Churchill Downs Track, on Tokyo Racecourse for the Japan Cup, Singapore's Bukit Timah racecourse and the Singapore Gold Cup, the Sha Tin racecourse with the running of Hong Kong's Invitation Cup and Australia's Flemington, which attracted over a quarter of a million spectators and punters at last year's carnival.

When Archer raced to victory on the two mile track at Flemington in 1861, he began a tradition that was to become a part of a nation's mythology and would produce such legends as Carbine, Tulloch and Phar Lap. This year, Flemington and the Victorian Racing Club celebrate Australia's 135th Melbourne Cup. The world's richest two mile handicap race has perhaps achieved its phenomenal success over the years due to its unpredictability; the notion that the battler can win out over the odds and often does is ingrained into the character of a nation whose colonisation began with a boatload of convicts.

Such origins are doubtless responsible for another aspect of the national character; a passion for gambling, evidenced in the fact that Australia, which shares a similar geographic mass to the United States of America and is dwarfed by that nation in terms of population, manages to maintain 530 racecourses compared with a mere 98 in the States. The country's long history of gambling provided an ideal climate in which to breed the exceptional horses for which Australia has become known. It is the finest of these thoroughbred horses that are still seen racing in the premium events at Flemington; the Derby, the Oaks and the Melbourne Cup, in addition the premier races on the world racing circuit.

Whilst the horses remain the raison d'etre of these race meetings, throughout the years, decades and, in some cases, centuries of their existence, these events themselves have become social and cultural expressions of their birthplace; patriotic symbols and celebrations of a culture that created them.

LONDON

Through the course of history, the characters and occurrences of the past are enshrined in a mythology that tints historical fact with the colourful palette of fiction. Legend has it that the English Derby was born on the toss of a coin at a dinner party held by the twelfth Earl of Derby in 1779. The toss took place between the Earl and Sir Charles Bunbury to determine which of their names should be given to a new race for three year old colts and fillies to be run at Epsom. The outcome of the toss, if it happened at all, is obvious but legend also has it that Sir Charles won the first running of the race with his colt Diomed.

Whatever the origins of the Derby, it was first run near the Earl's house at Epsom on the 4th May 1780 and before long it became an intrinsic part of the horse enthusiast's calendar. As early as 1788, the race was attended by the Prince of Wales, for whom a special stand was built, and by early next century Derby Day had become one of the highlights of England's social and sporting calendars.

"The whole world was at Epsom yesterday", wrote The Times in 1829 and it was during the Victorian era that Lord George Bentick first moved that parliament be adjourned for the day, initiating a long enduring custom that established Derby Day as an unofficial public holiday to be enjoyed by royalty and gypsies alike.

By the mid Nineteenth century, the notion of Derby Day as a popular festivity was well entrenched and Charles Dickens penned his impressions; 'Rows of spits are turning rows of joints before blazing walls of fire. Cooks are trussing fowls; confectioners are making jellies; kitchen maids are plucking pigeons; huge crates of boiled tongues are being garnished on dishes. Today the catering is a far more refined process but is still a necessary ingredient of the Derby, adding to the bonhomie of the crowd which, even in Dickens' day, was formidable. "On Derby Day, a population rolls and surges and scrambles through the place that may be counted in millions".

Two hundred and twelve years after it began, the crowd remains as essential to the spirit of Derby Day as any three year old thoroughbred and this day's racing is easily the most populous regularly held sporting event in the world with crowds numbering anywhere between a quarter to three quarters of a million; from the gentry in their hospitality tents to the gypsies with their menagerie of ponies, goats and chickens, the fortune tellers, the bookmakers and above all the people simply out for a good time and the chance to try their luck.

Just to what extent the punters try their luck is nigh on impossible to estimate, though it is considered to be in the region of some 35 million pounds, both on and off the track. Aside from the swarming crowds on Epsom Downs, some five million people can follow their horse on British television and punters in Hong Kong are now also able to bet on the race, which is transmitted live to Happy Valley racecourse.

Also trying their luck in what is reputedly the world's greatest Classic race, with a total purse of ú600,000 of which in excess of ú350,000 will go to the winner, are the horses and their jockeys as they negotiate a course that claims to be the ultimate test of the three year old thoroughbred. The race commences opposite the stands and, on leaving the stalls, the field runs uphill into a gradual right-hand bend, then moves over to the other rail to continue uphill towards the top of Tattenham Hill, from where the runners must tackle a sweeping lefthand descent. The down-hill gradient becomes steeper as they approach Tattenham Corner, with its colourful funfair, where they swing into the straight just under half a mile from the winning post. Even here, the ground continues its downward slope before levelling out and then rising slightly in the closing stages of the race.

The bizarre contours of the Epsom track require the contesting horses to be supremely adaptable; fast enough to take up and hold a good position in the hectic early stages, agile enough to go uphill and then downhill, balanced enough to handle the breakneck charge down to Tattenham Corner and ultimately blessed with the stamina and determination to keep galloping up the wide straight towards the winning post while maintaining balance to counteract the track's camber. The track's idiosyncrasies make even more remarkable the fact that in 1981 Shergar established a record when winning the race by ten lengths.

Legendary jockey Lester Piggot, nine times winner of the Derby throughout an illustrious career in which he rode 4349 horses to victory, believes it is the variety of the track that provides the true test to be mastered. "You have to have the speed and be able to stay one and a half miles, and also be able to gallop uphill and downhill". Others have envisaged less noble means of victory. Running Rain, upon winning the 1844 Derby, was discovered to be a four-year-old named Maccabeus and another runner in the same race was apparently six.

Another notable Derby was that of 1913. It was the year suffragette Emily Wilding Davison ran onto the track at Tattenham Corner, made a grab for the bridle of the King's horse Anmer and was felled, dying four days later. In a post script to those events, the winner of the race, the favourite Cragenour, was disqualified in favour of the 100-1 outsider Aboyeur.
Today, under the auspices of Sir Evelyn de Rothschild and United Racecourses, Epsom is mercifully devoid of the scandal which has coloured some of the past Derbys. More recently, commerce has entered the lexicon of modern tradition when, in 1984, the premier classic was first run as the Ever Ready Derby. This new chapter in the Derby's history opened on an exhilarating note when, in a sensational finish, Pat Eddery and El Gran Senor were cantering to an apparently effortless victory and, with a furlong to go, were fiercely contested by Christy Roche and Secreto who got the verdict by a short head.

Ever Ready's sponsorship at Epsom, which extends to the two other great races at the meeting, the Hanson Coronation Cup and Ever Ready's Gold Seal Oaks, was conceived by Sir Gordon White, now Lord White of Hull, whose passion for the turf was ignited when he first saw the Derby as a twelve year old boy with his father.

It is a passion that remains through both his commercial involvement with the Derby and a collection of fine racehorses that may one day give him the prized trophy but perhaps the last word on the significance of this classic event should come from the legendary Italian horse breeder, Federico Tesio who considered "The thoroughbred exists because its selection has depended not on experts, technicians or zoologists but on a piece of wood: the winning post of the Derby".

HONG KONG

Far from the tradition and historical richness of Epsom is the technological wizardry of Hong Kong's Sha Tin Racecourse. Built in the mid-70s and only completed in the mid-80s, Sha Tin is a cheeky symbol of independence; the beginnings of new indigenous traditions in a nation that has long enjoyed the pleasures of the track. Whilst the punters at Sha Tin's sister track of Happy Valley are technologically linked to the past during the satellite running of the Derby, December's Invitation Cup at Sha Tin is a distinct step into Hong Kon's future.

The Hong Kong Invitation Cup, in its fifth year, is the culmination of over 150 years of horse racing on the tiny island. The only legal form of gambling in the territory, horse racing enjoys enormous popularity. It is the island's most popular spectator sport with an estimated one out of six million of Hong Kong's residents regularly betting. The punters are supplied on race days with over forty racing newspapers and are serviced with state-of-the-art computer technology and betting software systems that lead the world.

From the air, the course resembles a small town. At the track's centre is a beautifully landscaped park with an abundance of flora and fauna. Along one side, the Shing Mun river flows out to sea whilst the other perimeter is flanked by two massive grandstands with a capacity to accommodate up to 83,000 people. An intricate network of flyovers, footbridges and parking bays carry the crowds. At the foot of the five furlong chute, sit four towers for the mafoos, or stable hands, and their families, whilst apartment blocks house officials and trainers. The complex contains administrative offices, an equine hospital, racing laboratory, apprentices' hostel, feed stores, water towers, maintenance sheds, garages for the mammoth 8-horse floats, quarantine stations and stabling facilities for a thousand horses.

Amidst it all, the striking architecture of the Royal Hong Kong Jockey Clubhouse is a proud testament to the Club that was founded over a hundred years ago to oversee horse racing on the island. The Royal Hong Kong Jockey Club, which was awarded its Royal prefix in 1960, operates a betting monopoly and, as a non-profit organisation, donates its profits to charity. Over the decades, it has been responsible for many of Hong Kong's major community developments.

Of these developments, it is Sha Tin that is closest to the heart of the Club's 12,500 or more members. This ambitious project was given a deadline by the Club as early as 1973. The course would open for racing at 2 pm on 7 October 1978 and it is indicative of the passionate nature of the turf that the Starter pressed the button just three minutes behind schedule - there was some difficulty in loading a horse called perfect into the gate.
Since then, millions of people have filed through the computerised turnstiles, watching horses from three continents race over 1800 metres for the glory of victory, a share in the 3 million Hong Kong dollar purse and the distinction of helping to establish a new tradition on the international horse racing circuit.

TOKYO

Harmoniously marrying the technological sophistication evidenced at Sha Tin with the sense of tradition that fills the air at Epsom is Tokyo racecourse. The spectacle of men on horseback competing against each other had been witnessed in Japan as early as the 8th Century A.D. and 'modern horse racing' accompanied by legal betting dates back to 1861 and the eve of the Meiji Restoration, when it was introduced by foreign residents to an emerging modern Japan that was beginning to shake off the shackles of a feudal society.

The sale of betting tickets was officially approved by the Japanese government in 1932 and under the same law eleven race clubs were established throughout the country. Over a decade later, these clubs were amalgamated into the Japan Racing Society. In the aftermath of the Second World War, it was replaced by the Japanese Racing Association, which took over responsibility for virtually al aspects of horse racing.

Japan today has a dozen courses and of these Nakayama, Kyoto, Hanshin and Tokyo constitute 'the big four' with Tokyo establishing itself as the most prestigious racecourse in the country, both in scale and achievement. Tokyo racecourse was founded 25 kilometres from downtown Tokyo in 1933 and has since become the site of such classic races as the Japanese Derby, the Japanese Oaks, the Autumn Emperor's Cup, the Yasuda Kinen and the prestigious Japan Cup.

This November, Tokyo racecourse will be the setting for the ninth running of the internationally recognised Japan Cup, for which invitations are extended to ten horses from nine countries across the globe. With prizemoney of over 1 million dollars for the winner, the event has in its brief history recorded some outstanding victories and heartbreaking defeats and has established itself as an international event.

With typical aplomb, Japan has taken a sport introduced to it by foreigners and fashioned it into a unique piece of its heritage. The Japan Cup at Tokyo Racecourse and indeed meetings at all of Japan's racecourses are organised through JARIS, the Japan Racing Information System, an on-line processing system which controls starters through a centralised coordination of data on owners, trainers, jockeys, breeders, race programmes, race results and other information on the racehorses of National Racing. With the establishment of the News Agency Information System in 1987, all data on racehorses and racing results are sent directly to newspapers throughout Japan.

PARIS

Whilst the computers are performing elegant technological pirouettes in Japan, the elegant racegoers of France are putting away their stylish racing season wardrobes and perhaps celebrating their bon chance at Longchamp. Just weeks before the world's attention is drawn to Tokyo Racecourse all eyes are fixed on the famous Parisian racecourse for what is arguably the world's most elegant race meeting, Longchamp's Ciga weekend. some fifty million television viewers around the world follow the events of that weekend in October when Paris hosts the running of the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe.

The Prix was first organised in 1920 to celebrate the Allied victory in the First World War and has since attracted the world's most elite thoroughbreds and boasts a list of winners thronged with famous names. Victory at the Prix is a most cherished dream and it is an exceptional honour for an owner's colours to triumph more than once.

Ciga weekend at Longchamp is the richest weekend's racing in Europe and the level of sporting, economic and society interest reflects an event of thoroughbred class that does justice to the ambitions of both Ciga Hotels and the Societe d'Encouragement in their presentation of this superlative sporting spectacle.
Longchamp is, quite possibly, the most beautiful racecourse in the world, situated as it is amidst the natural splendour of Paris' Bois de Boulogne. Just ten minutes from the Champs-Elysees and near the Seine river, the course is a vast haven nestled within the natural splendour of Paris's Bois de Boulogne. Brilliant green hues in Spring, golden and russet tones in Autumn, the Bois all around seems to enhance the lustrous green of the tracks which cover no less than seventeen hectares and provide a total of five distinct tracks, whilst the entire course stretches over sixty acres. Equally impressive are the facilities which include ninety boxes at the stables to accommodate the horses and a staff of seventy to maintain an appropriate level of preparedness for the thirty-five meetings held at Longchamp each year.

Pride of the course is the track itself which resembles a horse-shoe loop in design, rising gently before a gradual descent down the long right hand bend which leads to the long 2 1/2 furlong finishing stretch. From the Mounting Yard to the Winners' Circle all is carpeted with a brilliant green turf which provides a lush backdrop to the processions, the bands, the awarding of trophies and the elegant throng of spectators that fill the course for this most prestigious race meeting.

Overhead hang the regal colours of the imperial banners that read like a roll call of international hotel excellence, announcing the very fine stable of Ciga hotels throughout Europe and America. The Ciga hotel group has as its very apt symbol the Four Horses of San Marco. These horses were said to have arrived many centuries ago in Venice from the racecourse at Byzantium. Today the thoroughbreds arrive from many parts of the globe and under the gaze of Ciga's Four Horses and France's Societe d'Encouragement they compete for the glory of becoming part of another superlative stable of horses; winners of Europe's most prestigious prize, the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe.

SINGAPORE

Whilst visitors to Longchamp can indulge themselves amidst the grandeur of the famed Bois de Boulogne visitors to Bukit Timah racecourse are cradled within the verdant jewel that is Singapore. The canvas of this country has been brushed with many hues of green and Singapore is adorned all over with manicured gardens, shaded parks and open reserves but one of the most breathtaking views is to be had from the grandstands at Bukit Timah. These provide a superb vantage point from which to watch not only the exciting racing spectacles but the surrounding picturesque greenery which is reminiscent more of the lush countryside of Sir Stamford Raffles' homeland than the tropical jungles one would expect of the Asian paradise he founded.

Racing in Singapore has a long and illustrious history. In 1842 a group of racing enthusiasts formed the Singapore Sporting Club and held their first race meeting to mark the 24th anniversary of the founding of Singapore by Raffles. Ambitiously named the Singapore Cup, it was held over two days on the 23rd and 24th of February and offered as prize money the grand sum of one hundred and fifty dollars.

These earliest races featured Java ponies and as Singapore still, to this day, breeds no horses of its own, horses continue to be imported; these days from Australia, New Zealand and America and, to a lesser extent, from Britain, France and Malaysia.

Around the turn of the century interest in racing flourished and the early enthusiasts were joined at the track by increasing numbers of people from all nationalities. The original facilities became increasingly inadequate to cater to the swelling crowds and a new racecourse was built in 1933 on land purchased from the Bukit Timah rubber estate.

It is this course, although upgraded and equipped with an array of sophisticated facilities, that remains home to Singapore's horse racing under the direction of the Bukit Turf Club. The course was initially restricted to members but opened its gates to the public in 1960 and increasing numbers began attending the meetings with the country's premier events, the Singapore Gold Cup and Singapore Derby attracting unprecedented crowds. 1972 saw the inaugural running of the Queen Elizabeth II Cup in celebration of the visit to the course by Her majesty and their Royal Highnesses, the Duke of Edinburgh and Princess Anne. A decade later the course was graced not by a royal visit but by an impressive colour television screen opposite the grandstands. Measuring 18 metres across and 6 metres in height, it was one of the first such screens to appear on a track in the world, and gave crowds a view of the horses in action that was superior in its detailed focus.

Although a very imposing sight by the winning post, the screen is dwarfed by the six level main grandstand and the eight tiers of the recently refurbished North grandstand which combine to accommodate up to 60,000 people. A sophisticated camera patrol system comprising six strategically placed cameras around the track assists Stewards in the monitoring of races whilst over 400 TV monitors in clusters of four ,feature results, updated dividends and varying perspectives of races as they are run. Betting enthusiasts have access to fully computerised totaliser betting terminals throughout the course. The track is actually three tracks, one of sand and two, one a longer track than the other, of Savannah grass turf.

Aside from the excellent racing facilities, the Turf Club has superb restaurant facilities, offering a civilised alternative to grazing fast foods by the track; not that there is a lack of fast food. The Rasa Singapura food court features Singapore's famous hawker fare and such delicacies as Hainanese Chicken rice and Wanton Noodle.

From the earliest days when the members would have brought their own Wanton to the track to watch the Singapore Cup with its $150 purse, Bukit Timah now boasts thirty-two weekend race days a year and the Singapore Gold Cup, the most prestigious event in the Singapore Malaysia circuit and amongst the leading racing events in the world is worth $50,000.

Throughout its history, Bukit Timah has seen many great thoroughbreds tread its turf and among these several have entered the racing annals for their record-breaking achievements. An Australian mare, cutely named Bright Eyes, won sixteen races between 1947 and 1951 and became the first mare in the local racing circuit to win more than $100,000 in prize money whilst the English bred Three Rings became the only horse in local racing history to have won five Gold Cups within four seasons.

A fine Irish gelding, Star Prince remains to this day the only horse unbeaten in all his six starts during the 1978 season and Colonial Chief, a gelding from New Zealand, is set to become the first horse on the local circuit to win one million dollars in prizemoney, having amongst his achievements won the 1989 Singapore Gold Cup, the Hong Kong Invitation Cup that same year and, in 1990, the Penang Sprint Trophy.

It is a legacy that would have done Sir Stamford Raffles proud. The electronic betting systems, the air conditioned restaurants, the grandstands and the huge video screen would perhaps be a cause of bemused wonder were the man to wander around Bukit Timah today but the passionate roar of tens of thousands of racing fans cheering the finest thoroughbreds on to victory as they battle their way down the straight during the Singapore Gold Cup must surely cause more than a stirring of admiration in his soul.

KENTUCKY

From the quenching Singapore Slings that Raffles himself might have prescribed to help counter the effects of that nation's tropical heat to the mint juleps of Kentucky and the American heartland; the details may differ but the essence remains the same. Long before Raffles first strolled through the humid streets of Singapore, Kentuckians were flocking to the races to experience the thrill of the win. Racing in the state of Kentucky dates back to 1789 but it was nearly a century later that it became a serious consideration.

During a lengthy trip to Europe, Col. M. Lewis Clark's imagination was captivated by the tradition of horseracing in England and upon his return he not only founded the Louiseville Jockey Club but designed three major race stakes, the Kentucky Derby, Kentucky Oaks and Clark Handicap after the three premier races in England; the Epsom Derby, the Epsom Oaks and St. Leger Stakes. These races were run in Louisville, Kentucky at a track founded in 1874 as the Louisville Jockey club, which was to became known as Churchill Downs; a reporter first penned the term after the Churchill brothers who originally leased the land to Clark and the term 'Downs' which is descriptive of a racecourse.
It is unlikely that Clark envisaged that his beloved track and races would together become an American institution, for it was his successor, Matt Winn, stepping in after Clark's death in 1899, who brought both Churchill Downs and the Kentucky Derby into the national and international arena. Aside from his passion for horseracing, Winn was quite a successful businessman in his day, prospering with a most unlikely personal philosophy; 'Always be polite'. At the turn of this century, the track was facing certain bankruptcy when Winn assembled a group of investors to purchase the property. An ethical man, Winn sold his business to raise the necessary funds and upon being named Vice President and General Manager of Churchill Downs, he became a model of propriety, never again placing a bet on his beloved horses.

Winn and his partners purchased Churchill Downs in 1902 for the princely sum of $40,000 and set it on the path to prosperity. Since the mid-1970s, when the reins of Churchill Downs were passed to the new Chairman of the Board, Warner L. Jones, Jr., some twenty five million dollars worth of renovation, restoration and construction have transformed the Downs into one of the world's leading racing facilities.

Jones' has guided the course into a thoroughbred racing renaissance and indeed leads by example of his own impeccable pedigree. He has served a record fifty years on the Board of Churchill Downs since his appointment as a 25 year old in 1941; his great, great, great uncle was none other than the track's first President, Col. Clark, and his great, great grandmother was a Churchill, of the family who inherited the original property. Horseracing has been as pervasive in Jones' life as it has in his ancestry. Since 1935, he has successfully bred racehorses on his Kentucky property, stunning the breeding world when, in 1985, he sold a half-brother to Triple Crown winner Seattle Slew for a world-record $13.1 million at a selected yearling sale. In 1987, he decided to concentrate on racing and ended his breeding operation, devoting his time to the horses at his Heritage Farm. His outstanding contributions were recognised when he was elected to the Kentucky Hall of Fame in 1990.

It is through the leadership and the individual passions of men such as these that Churchill Downs has become one of the world's premier racecourses and the Kentucky Derby has taken its place amongst the great races of the world. On the first Saturday in May, the run for the roses as New York sports columnist Bill Corum dubbed the race that traditionally honoured its winner with a garland of roses is run over a mile and a quarter on a track of Fescue and the finest Kentucky bluegrass amidst the ocean of red and yellow tulips that engulf the grounds.

America's premier turf event, the Derby is, since 1956 when four civic minded townspeople pooled $640 and created the Kentucky Derby Festival, the highlight of what is now a ten day festival that each year attracts over a million people, from movie-stars to mere mortals, with its superb racing, its pageantry, spectacular fireworks, exhibitions, entertainment and above all an engaging sense of community.

To the community of Louisville, Churchill Downs has a greater significance than its role as a track for thoroughbred races. Scene of the Kentucky State Fair during the War years, 1943-44, a site throughout the decades for many musical events and religious Corpus Christi processions and even a training track fore a young unknown contender in the early 60s, who was known by locals as the 'Louisville Lip' and discovered international success and celebrity in another thoroughbred arena as Mohammed Ali.

The hallowed turf of each of these racecourses resonates with a rich racing heritage that is steeped in the even richer history of a culture. These racecourses have become potent symbols with their own attendant mythologies. The so called sport of Kings is indeed the King of sports and the thrill of the track incorporates the struggle to achieve, the element of luck, the unrestrained joy of victory and the heaviness of defeat. A microcosm of the world at large, the racecourse elicits the very same passions and sorrows. On the world's finest courses and the world's most celebrated races, the struggle is greater, the victory sweeter; the passions are enhanced, the atmosphere unique.