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Originally Posted by docicu3
Has there ever been a case of a horse actually running two races in a day.
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Before the Civil War, most TB races were run in heats, best 2 out of 3, all on the same day. Younger horses (3,4) would race at a mile, but the heavyweight division ran in 4 mile heats. Out in Tennesse there was this mare called Maria that Andy Jackson's horses had lost to so many times that the future Pres was desparate to beat her. His best shot was in a race wherein the first three heats were won by three different horses (one of them Andy's) so they ran another heat and Maria won. 4 heats, 4 winners, so they ran another heat and Maria won again. She was ever afterwards known as "The Twenty-Mile Mare". TBs racing in heats generally didn't run more than 5 or 6 times in a year.
The sport and the breed have changed a bit since then.<deliberate understatement>