Jockeys Racing Down the Track coloring page

About this coloring page

In a horse race on an American track, nearly every runner is a Thoroughbred. This breed is the classic racehorse, famous for its speed, heart and stamina over middle distances.

The Thoroughbred took shape in England in the late 1600s and early 1700s. Breeders crossed local mares with stallions imported from the Middle East and North Africa. Three of those stallions are known as the foundation sires: the Byerley Turk, the Darley Arabian and the Godolphin Arabian. Every Thoroughbred alive today traces back to at least one of them through the male line.

Each Thoroughbred is recorded in a stud book that tracks its ancestry. To be registered in North America with The Jockey Club, a foal must have registered parents and be conceived by live cover, with no artificial insemination allowed.

Thoroughbreds are tall, long-legged and deep-chested, with thin skin and a fiery spirit. The most famous American races for them are the Triple Crown series: the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes. Only a handful of horses have ever won all three, and the legendary Secretariat still holds the Belmont record he set in 1973.

• horse race
• thoroughbred
• racetrack
• jockeys
• sports