It is believed that horse racing became a professional sport in this country in the 12th century, when the English knights returned from the Crusades with Arab horses. The Arabian Horse, which hails from Middle Eastern deserts, is acknowledged as being the purest and oldest of all horse breeds, and has incredible stamina ? being able to carry its rider at speed across miles of open desert with little food or water. Today, almost every breed and type of horse has traces of Arab blood and all English Thoroughbreds that are used in horseracing in the UK today are descended from three Arabian stallions: Byerley Turk, Darley Arabian or Godolphin Arabian, which were imported to Britain in the late 17th and early 18th century.

Newmarket was the venue for the first horse racing meetings in Britain, and horse races became a professional sport and the subsequent legal betting and racecourses quickly followed, with Ascot being founded in 1711 by Queen Anne.

The Jockey Club was formed to oversee and control English horse racing, making horse racing the first regulated sport in the UK. The Jockey Club wrote a comprehensive set of rules for horse racing and sanctioned racecourses to adhere to them. Five races were designated as "classics": 'The 2000 Guineas', 'The Epsom Derby' and 'The St Ledger' which together make up 'The Triple Crown', and the '1,000 Guineas' and the 'Epsom Oaks' open to fillies only.

In order to regulate the breeding of race horses, the Jockey Club formed the General Stud Book which lists all Thoroughbred horses who were to be allowed race in this country professionally.

Millions of people began to watch horseracing with the technological advances of the 19th century, with a marked increase in betting and media coverage. Interest continued to escalate with the introduction of television, and was compounded by the opening of the first betting shops in the early 1960s.

Organised steeplechase racing developed from the English and Irish past-time of foxhunting - rough cross-country races known as "pounding races", in which the winner was simply the one who out-lasted other riders. At the end of the 1700s, racers agreed on the end-point for a cross-country race ? more often than not, a church steeple. The prizes back in those days tended to be money and alcohol! The word "steeplechase" appeared officially for the first time in the Irish Racing Calendar in 1807.

Two of the most famous steeplechase races in the world are the Grand National which started in 1839 and is run at Aintree in Liverpool, and the Irish Grand National, held every year over the Easter weekend at the Fairyhouse Racecourse in County Meath, Ireland. The Irish Grand National has a prize fund of ?250,000 and runs over 3 miles, 5 furlongs, and includes 23 fences. An added bonus goes to any UK trained winner who takes the Irish Grand National after having also won the Cheltenham Festival Chase. So all very exciting stuff!

Today, online horse race betting continues to draw new audiences to the sport of horse racing ? why don't you get involved for the Easter weekend festivities?