Origins of Harness Racing.

In 1500 BC the Assyrian kings kept elaborate stables with professional trainers. They trained horses to pull chariots, initially for use in battles but soon they were also used for hunting as a sport. Local horses were bred with horses brought in from Asia Minor and Northern Africa. In the 7th century BC, the Olympic Games had four-horse hitch chariot races; two-horse hitch races took place earlier.

Chariot racing as a sport gained great prominence in Rome. Public records of the bloodlines of horses were kept. The top horses even had their records buried with them. One horse had 1300 victories, 88 second and 37 third placements.

 

 

The Circus Maximus hippodrome was built on a site for chariot racing in the Murcia Valley between the Palatine and the Aventine hills. It was 600 metres long and 200 metres wide. Except at the open end, seats ran in tiers around the U-shaped arena. They consisted of two parallel terraces facing each other along the long sides of the track connected by a sharp curve curve in the terrace facing the stables at the other end. By the 4th century AD it could hold 200,000 spectators. A fence ran down the middle, called a spina, to make laps. This was most probably done to eliminate the possibility of head-on collisions and prevented horses being distracted by seeing another team coming towards them at close range. 

In Greece chariot racing had been the sport of the wealthy. In Rome companies distinguished by their colours of white, red, blue and green took part. During the reign of Agustus, 27BC-A.D.14, there were 12 races a day and each race consisted of seven or twelve laps. By the time of Flavius' reign, A.D.69-96, there were 100 races from dawn to dusk. As in today's sport, they had proper racing officials, starting chutes, legal disputes, claims of doping horses and betting.

 

Circus Maximus, Rome. One of the largest sports venues ever built. Rebuilt in the first century B.C. Modified until 400 B.C. Only ruins remain.

 

Eventually the chariot passed its use by date as a military vehicle and chariot racing ended with the fall of Rome in the 4th century.