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The Fascinating History Of Horse Racing
May 15th, 2010 by Byron Jonas, under Travel and Leisure. No Comments
What used to be referred to as the ‘sport of kings’, the history of horse racing goes back as far as 4500 BC when primitive tribesmen living in Central Asia began domesticating horses. It is one of the most popular sports all over the world because it is essentially a legitimate way to gamble.
Only second to baseball in popularity, horse racing is a major spectator sport in America. It also ranks as a top sport in South Africa, South America, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Europe, Canada and Great Britain. The most popular format takes place on level courses of different distances. The thoroughbred horses are ridden by professional jockeys.
When humans were able to keep written records, the sport was held in every main civilization from the Mediterranean to Central Asia. The Greek Olympics that took place in 638BC featured mounted horse races as well as chariot horse races. In the Roman Empire era, the public became obsessed with this sport.
Horse racing as we know it today started in the 12th Century. English knights returned from the Crusades with robust Arab horses. Over the following 400 years, Arabian stallions were brought into Britain and were bred with English mares. The offspring were perfect for horse racing. They had incredible speed and endurance. At this point, betting was exclusive to English noblemen.
In the early 1700s, when Queen Anne was on the throne, horse racing was classified as a professional sport. Races comprised of several horses and jockeys pitting their skills against each other. Race courses sprung up all over England and, with ever increasing purses, breeders and owners were turning huge profits.
Competition became fierce and, to prevent any corruption, a Jockey Club was formed in 1750 at Newmarket. The sport was controlled by this body which introduced a number of rules and regulations. Even to this day, British horse racing is overseen by the Jockey Club.
The sport was introduced to the USA in 1665 when British settlers arrived with horses. A race track was set up at Long Island. As the industrial economy in the USA began to rise, there was an explosion of popularity among the American public and 314 tracks were set up all across the country by 1890.
There was no governing body at the time and therefore the sport was rife with domination by unsavory elements. This forced stable and track owners to meet in New York to form the American Jockey Club which was modeled on the same lines as the English Jockey Club. This body took a firm hand and a lot of the corruption was eliminated.
Attending the Australian horse races is great fun, especially when you are winning! It’s time to start making every trip to the track a great one when you have the horse racing tips that will give you the winning edge today!
Turn Any Outdoor Experience into a Cozy One
May 8th, 2010 by Byron Jonas, under Travel and Leisure. No Comments
The great outdoors: they’re there, and they’re begging us to get out and enjoy them. In a country like the one we Aussies have been graced with, there is just no way a person can have anything but a profound love for everything outdoorsy. In this context, it becomes crucial to find every way to make the great experiences of the outdoors (and the Outback) as enjoyable as possible.
Of course, having fun in the tamest and primmest of urban parks or the wildest of wildernesses requires a person to come a bit prepared. It’s a question of overcoming the elements instead of letting them overcome you-and that means a bit of planning. It’s necessary to be dressed for the occasion, to bring protective items, and to have some form of shelter to keep yourself and your friends and family as cozy and snug as possible.
With regards to clothing, whereas a trifling hours-long outdoor adventure somewhere close to home doesn’t require you to put much preparation into it, this is not the case when it comes to journeys farther afield. That’s because going for a picnic on the shores of the lake a few miles from your home is one thing, while blazing a trail into the dead middle of the Outback is quite another thing. For cases like this, it is extremely important to have the right gear on you: a wide-brim hat, a pair of hiking boots, good sunglasses, some rain gear, a windbreaker and things of the sort.
Furthermore, it’s a basic necessity to include a bottle or two of sunscreen in your sack, given the fact that our southern skies filter fewer UV rays as a result of the gaping ozone holes that pock our ozone layer. In consideration of this reality, it’s simply not enough to pack a bottle of SPF-5!
To ensure that your outdoor adventure is as enjoyable as possible, you’ll need to rely on an outdoor shelter. Depending on the needs of the people enjoying the outdoors and the circumstances, a simple tent can often do the trick; other folks suffice themselves with even less, roughing it with a makeshift refuge built with little more than a bit of rope and a sheet of plastic.
However, to live up your outdoors fun in style and grace, there are several different kinds of instant outdoor shelters that do just the trick. Easy to assemble and built out of excellent quality materials, these are just the kind of accessory to have to make any outdoor experience a cozy one.
Generally known as Marquees, such shelters are offered in multiple sizes and with different amounts of walls, from a bare minimum of one all the way up to a complete four. The most notable trait they have is the facility with which they can be set up: if produced by a reliable manufacturer with onerous quality controls, such shelters are able to be erected within no more than a minute, meaning a bare minimum of effort and hassle and no arguments over how to proceed.
The comfort which they afford comes thanks to the absolute protection against UV rays, the rain and the wind. Snuggly enclosed in a shelter of this variety, even the most macho and steely wayward wanderer will be sure to be grateful for the opportunity to escape from the oppressive elements.
Byron Jonas employs outdoor marquees every time he has an outdoor function. Instant shelters just take the weather from his organization risks