Racing

In Russia the founder of equestrian testing and races was Count Orlov-Chesmensky. The first Moscow races were organized at Donskoe Pole at the end of the XVIII century. Unlike the trotting races of the period the Horse Racing Rules were elaborated in detail defining jockeys’ weight and colour. When the Horse Hunt Society was established in 1831 in Moscow races became a matter of honour. But Russian horses were ridden almost exclusively by English jockeys Wood, Hudson, Day Eve Taylor, Avison and others. In 1835 at the Khodynka Field near the trotting hippodrome a new racing hippodrome was built.

In 1886 following the example of England, the homeland for the Thoroughbred horses, Moscow introduced the most honorary All-Russian Derby prize for three year old horses of this breed. Horse testing at the Moscow hippodromes was very prestigious. Besides flat and trotting races, steeplechases and concourshippiques, that required a special diagonal track, were gaining popularity.

In Soviet Russia regular horse testing starts in 1920s. The first trial races at the Moscow Hippodrome of 1921 enabled the GU KON equestrian authority to establish regular testing in the autumn of 1921. In September of 1921 trotting races resume in Moscow. “The Moscow Hippodrome, idle for several years, came back to life, resumed regular testing and is once again the beacon for thecountry’s horse breeding community,” the media informed. Prior to1930 trotting and racing hippodromes were separate, though in close proximity. The expansion of the Belarusian-Baltic railway raised the issue of rebuilding or relocation of the racing facility. The merger of the two hippodromes was completed in 1930. The racing hippodrome with three concentric tracks remained at its original site.

In the summer of 1950 the stands of the Moscow Hippodrome were destroyed by fire. The present building designed by architect I. V. Zholtovsky was constructed in 1950–1955,the prize track was coated with synthetic material in the 1970s.