Horseracing attracted six million people to UK race meetings in 2019, a spectator count only bettered by professional football. Nine million television viewers watched the 2021 Grand National Steeplechase.Racing has been part of the social life of the nation for 500 years, a sporting culture followed by people from every strata of society, a sport based on an ancient and primeval relationship; the human and the horse. It is an enchanting activity to many, yet one cloaked in mystery, curious processes and even curiouser terminology.For the enchanted, there is soul-stirring speed, power and beauty, but controversies such as whip usage and equine fatalities cause some to demand its curtailment, even abolition.Semi-autobiographical in approach, there is nostalgia, emotion and humour as the author draws on a lifetime of involvement as viewer, racegoer, punter, and partner in the ownership of two racehorses, to answer the question: how has horseracing become a sport of enchantment?
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