Heat racing was dominant in the 1870s and before that time as well.
I have read in 1872 Saratoga was running nine mile heats. Horses would run one three mile race then rest 45 minutes and race another three miles followed by another 45 minute break and run a third three mile race. I suspect that nine miles racing in one afternoon was brutal. After seeing this brutal practice, Horace Greely through his newspaper The Tribune, staged a campaign to end the brutal practice.
Does anyone know when the cruel practice of heat racing was stopped?
