Horse racing is a popular spectator sport, but beneath the beautiful spectacle lies a world of drug abuse, injuries, and gruesome breakdowns. The horses that race are forced to run fast for long distances, often under the threat of whips and electric shock devices. They take a terrible pounding on their lower legs, straining ligaments and tendons. They may also break down under the stress of running so fast, suffering from pulmonary hemorrhage, or even dying.

The equine athletes are trained to perform at their peak, and the jockeys (who are usually men) use a whip to keep the horses on track. When a jockey feels that a horse is slowing down or about to break down, he can use the whip to encourage it to continue running hard. The whip is a powerful weapon and can cause serious injury to a horse, so jockeys are careful not to use it excessively.

A horse’s pace can be influenced by the amount of weight it is carrying, the position of its starting gate, sex, and training. In the most prestigious races, the horses are assigned fixed amounts of weight to be carried for fairness. The weights are based on the horse’s ability, with allowances made for younger horses and females running against males.

Unlike American flat races, European jumps races have different distances and are often run over obstacles rather than a straight course. The horses are trained to progress to harder obstacles and longer distances as they age, so a hurdling horse will usually start out in flat races as a juvenile, then move on to a steeplechase as an adult.

When a horse races, the riders must constantly monitor the horses’ condition and try to anticipate when they will tire or become injured. A jockey can tell if a horse is getting tired by looking at its stride length, which decreases as the horse runs out of steam. In the final stretch of a race, the jockey will often use his whip to urge the horse to speed up and come from behind to win the race.

In a political election, media scholars have studied how news stories that frame elections as a horse race discourage voters from voting. They have found that journalists are more likely to publish such stories when a close race is imminent, and when they are focusing on a single candidate. This strategic news coverage has been shown to elevate a voter’s sense of cynicism toward politics and the issues featured in the story. Media studies have also found that the public is more inclined to vote when they believe their chosen candidate has a good chance of winning. This type of probabilistic forecasting is especially harmful to young people, who have less experience with democracy than older adults and are therefore more vulnerable to its effects.