Why do horse races in the States run counter- clockwise and The Darby is run in the opposite direction?

Question

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THANKS........

Answer 1

American horses    run clockwise, British horses runs counter-clockwise.the American jockey stays down in the saddle,British jocks they stand up.

Answer 2

Maybe, just maybe, you run lefthanded most of the time so your jockeys do not have to &quot;think outside the box&quot; They can go flat out and make a move at the same place day after day. Might as well get a robot to ride !!

Maybe your bigger race &quot;Darby&quot; as you say &quot;Derby&quot; as I would say, is a test to see if the horse and jockey are adaptable. Obviously only an American like yourself would know the answer.

HERE in the Motherland our horses and jockeys ride left handed, right handed,uphill, downhill, twists and turns.

They really needto think to be a jockey here, but you did send us Stevie Cauthen !!!!!

Answer 3

British courses go clockwise AND anticlockwise.

And that is a generalisation as they are not an oval or circle.

In fact they are known as left handed and right handed tracks.

Some like Windsor are figure of eight.

And BWJ1963 - there are several reasons we dont do well in America including the journey over there, and the fact you race on dirt most of the time and not on grass.

Answer 4

The same reason the Brits drive on the opposite side of the road, and we the newer country choose to do things contrary-wise, for reasons having nothing to do with horseracing, is my idea.  (or driving)

Answer 5

i don&#039;t know.....but i do know that every year

they can bring their best horses to the states

and get them ran in the ground in the breeders&#039;

cup....but 1 year they will run the breeders&#039; cup

across the pond...and we will have to bring our

best horses to get the job done....

Answer 6

The courses in Europe run both clockwise and anti-clockwise.  As has been said already, a lot of the courses are not even circular - for example, Epsom is a U shape and Newmarket is an L shape.

Our courses are also far more interesting - they go up and down, round sharp bends and quite a few have an adverse camber.

This link will show you a rough outline of each of the courses that is racing in GB/IRE tomorrow - use the drop down box on the right to select a different course: http://www.racingpost.co.uk/horses/a_day...

This link  goes some way to demonstrating the climb to the  finish at Epsom: http://www.racingpostpix.com/pictures_25...

&quot;The Dip&quot; at Newmarket is notorious for unbalancing horses.

I am biased I know, but I think our racecourse here on the other side of &quot;the pond&quot; are a lot more interesting than the ones in America!  No offence!

Oh and by the way - it is spelt Derby but prounounced &quot;darby&quot;, only in America does anyone pronounce it &quot;derrby&quot;!