A horse race pits several senior executives against each other with the goal of choosing the best leader. It is a leadership strategy that some governance observers and executives find unpalatable, but it has delivered exceptional leaders at many well-regarded companies.
Unlike the flashy political polls jockeying for attention, a thoroughbred race is a measured affair, with a clear line between winners and losers. The pacing of the horses is deliberate, and the pacers are mindful to not overextend their mounts. They also avoid slapping their horses on the back, a practice called yanking, which can be harmful to a horse.
The crowd at Santa Anita was mostly working-class men, sitting or standing in the bowels of the grandstand, staring up at banks of TVs that broadcast races from all over the country and beyond. The curses, many in Spanish or Chinese, that rise with the stretch runs have the rhythm and ring of universal imprecations.
The track was dirt, rather deep and slow, and War of Will, that year’s Preakness champion, took an early lead. But as they turned the clubhouse turn, you could see that he was tiring, and his rivals, Mongolian Groom and McKinzie, were catching up.
A few yards separated the leaders from the pack, and a jockey’s skill was essential to coaxing a little extra speed out of his horse. The race was hot and humid, and the horses bled, which is a fact of life in a sport that requires such a demanding physical effort. The bleeders are often treated with cocktails of legal and illegal drugs that mask injury or enhance performance.
Horse racing’s roots go back to ancient times, but the first organized race was probably a four-hitch chariot or mounted (bareback) competition in the Olympic Games of 700-40 bce. But it wasn’t until the British occupied New Amsterdam in 1664 that modern American horse racing was established by laying out a course on Long Island and offering a silver cup to the winner.
Today, the most popular form of horse racing is thoroughbred racing, in which racehorses are bred to compete against each other on a fixed distance course. The modern Thoroughbred, which can weigh more than twelve hundred pounds and have delicate ankles, is a product of a century of breeding aimed at increasing both speed and stamina. As it developed, the breed became increasingly refined and sophisticated and grew into the dominant force in global racing. It is, however, a costly endeavor that is largely supported by betting. It is a sport that has an ingrained masculinist culture, and while more women are becoming jockeys, the profession’s entrenched masculine traditions may prove difficult to change. In the United States, the number of females in professional riding has grown steadily but remains less than ten percent. The majority of jockeys are male, and in Australia the numbers are even lower. A few female riders have won major races but are rare in a sport where more than 90 percent of the horses are male.