We visited the racetrack together! Most of this text is her work. Happy reading and viewing!
On Begovaya Street, surrounded by simple Moscow houses, there is a completely unusual structure that has attracted and continues to attract equestrians from all over the world. The Central Moscow Hippodrome is a favorite place for fans of horses, horse racing, racing and everything related to these beautiful creatures. A place that is completely special in spirit, where excitement, passion, the thirst for victory reign and at the same time the enormous work of athletes and all employees of the hippodrome to justify the hopes of spectators and maintain their high status.
1. The building of the hippodrome is very remarkable and cannot but please those who like to look at horses in any form - live or in stone. 
2. The hippodrome itself officially opened on September 12, 1834, and this event is associated with the holding by Count Alexei Orlov (not to be confused with Catherine’s favorite) of the first trotting races on the Khodynskoye field (yes, exactly where at the end of the 19th century people suppressed each other because of for free gingerbread). 
3. The main building of the hippodrome was built in 1896-1899. architects Baryutin and Kulagin, but in 1949 almost all of it was destroyed by fire and the building was rebuilt. Now it has one carved turret with numerous horses, but most importantly, to the delight of the horsemen, Klodt’s equestrian sculptures survived the fire and were moved to the new building. 
4. Opposite the hippodrome building, among the dug up asphalt, there is a sculpture “Bathing Horses”. At first there was supposed to be a fountain there, but it didn’t happen... 
5. The inside and outside of the hippodrome are completely different things. If you just see a beautiful building from the outside, then life is already in full swing inside, even when it’s already cold and the visitors don’t have a tooth to grind with. 
6. Presidential horse races are also held here. 
7. In mid-September the racing season closes, but trotting races are held even in winter. The racing track closest to the spectators is empty, the trotters train and perform on the second track, even in winter. 
8. It is filled with ice, spikes are put on the horses' hooves - and forward to victory. The technique is absolutely correct, since loose but frozen soil is the first step to injury for both the animal and the athlete. 
9. Near the hippodrome there is the Bega hotel. 
10. On the other hand, there are ordinary standard buildings. 
11. It's time to move inside. 
12. The Oryol trotter is our national heritage, the pride of Russian horse breeding. In the depths of the hippodrome, climbing up strange stairs, you can wander into a museum dedicated to this breed. 
13. The very existence of the equestrian museum amazed me, but here it is quite decent. 
14. The Orlov Trotter was bred by Count Alexei Grigorievich Orlov in the 70s. 18th century. The ancestor of the breed is the Arabian stallion Smetanka, who was dragged overland from Arabia for two years. The breed was developed thanks to Orlov’s hard creative work of crossing Arabian stallions with Neapolitan, Danish and English mares, special training and selection of horses. The result was a harmoniously built light draft horse with great agility at the trot. For equestrians, the Oryol Trotter is one of the most beautiful breeds; they are tall, stately, and have very smooth lines. 
15. By the way, the famous Russian troika, which is shoved into all the pictures, and which is always associated with the original Russian, are also Oryol trotters. In such a harness, the rootman (who is in the middle) ran at a trot, and those attached to the gods galloped. This helped to avoid shaking on epic Russian roads, which always amazed foreigners who saw the Russian troika. 
16. There are a huge number of photographs of horses on the walls of the museum. There are paintings under the ceiling, and on the stand and cabinet there are cups and other furnishings with a horse theme. 
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19. Here you can see a painting depicting the hippodrome in the year of its opening. 
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21. Soviet images. 
22. Lots of black and white photographs that could take hours to look at. 
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24. In the corner is a collage about women. 
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26. This is such an unusual watch. 
27. And images of the main thing - running. 
28. The names of the riders are indicated on the photographs. 
29. Painting Big Prize. 
30. Special thanks to the museum curator for the detailed story! 
31. Let's dwell on the names of horses. Catch is still a normal name. 
32. Kamaz, Othello, Search, Handicap. 
33. I wonder how they come up with names? Where did the Amplifier come from? Why Gibraltar? And Brys? 
34. And there are many more like them. 
35. There is a special atmosphere in the stands of the hippodrome. If for horsemen here horses are horses, and there is another horse, then for many “elite groups” the hippodrome is a place where they can meet, eat, gossip and at the same time enjoy the races or races. Equestrian sport in Russia is becoming increasingly fashionable, so the wealthy elite often gather here, especially during special events (including the opening and closing of the racing season). 
36. On ordinary days, you can see a motley crowd in the stands, bets are placed and the gambling frenzy begins. 
37. The horse in the coat is also here. 
38. Entrance design elements. 
39. And local fireplaces were originally additional decorations into which batteries were inserted. 
40. Some premises are now closed. 
41. Someone is cheering for their horse on the street, and someone can watch all the processes in the indoor hall from the TV screen. 
42. The betting system works well; above each betting window there is an electronic panel with the names of the horses, numbers and place. Progress does not stand still. 
43. In general, betting was introduced in the 70s of the 19th century, first at horse races, then at races. But I met a lot of criticism. The betting shop was closed several times, but in 2012 it was solemnly revived and now you can safely place bets, provided that all other gambling is prohibited. 
44. On a normal day, a completely different crowd gathered here. 
45. Particularly heated discussions take place among older people. 
47. While Ira is watching the preparation of the horses, we will look at the ceiling. 
48. And to the surrounding area. 
49. The scoreboard is not working today. 
50. Once upon a time there was a show jumping area in the middle. 
51. Now let's look at an ordinary ordinary competition. First, the horses participating in the race pass in front of the stands. This is not always all participants. some especially worried ones are in the distance. The racetrack is a place for testing. Not every horse here is a master and is not afraid of anything. 
52. While all the participants are gathering, a car is being prepared before the start, which is being aligned. 
53. Participants line up. The judges ride in the car on the inner circle. 
54. Start! And immediately someone lags behind. and someone is rushing forward! 
55. A circle passed and the trio formed. Congratulations to the best! 
56. Only two prizes were awarded on this day. Here is one of the winning horses. 
57. And now he goes to the holy place of the hippodrome - to the stables! 
58. If the hippodrome is something that everyone can see, then the stables of the Moscow Hippodrome are a kind of backstage. Horses don’t just live here, ammunition stores are located here, equipment is stored, athletes prepare for competitions, or, on the contrary, horses walk after hard work. Horse-drawn rocking chairs often dart between the stables on their way to the hippodrome arena. It may not be noticeable to everyone, but sometimes you can see how nervous the animals are before performances. 
59. Just as each athlete has his own uniform, so each horse has its own equipment, which is selected individually to suit its character. 
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61. While there are no horses, cats and dogs are resting. 
62. Particularly timid people are completely wrapped up, with “ears” on the ears and blinders on the eyes (plates that are put on the muzzle and block the view on the sides), so that no sounds distract on the way to the cup. 
63. If a horse is afraid of the sight of its own shadow, the eyes are completely blindfolded with thick cloth. But the horseman's observations: animals that are so fearful rarely reach the finish line first. 
64. During races and races, not only the skillful control of a person is very important, but also the desire of the horse itself to win. If she doesn’t even see where to go, what can we say about the treadmill where it is desirable to see not only her opponents, but also where to run. 
65. In general, one cannot fail to understand that victory in competitions largely depends on the character of the horse and its abilities. In the 20th century, they came up with an interesting way to check horses for lice. They put out two buckets, one empty, the other with oats. And they released the horse, which was looking for a bucket of food. The experiment was repeated several times, the horse got used to where to go. And then the buckets were swapped. Some animals adjusted quickly; these were considered the most promising athletes. And some stubbornly went to the empty bucket every time, shocked that it was without food. It is not difficult to guess that such stubborn people rarely produced any sense. 
66. Racing (as opposed to horse racing, where the jockey sits astride) is a competition of trotters harnessed to a rocking chair, a single two-wheeled carriage. Don't get confused, because this irritates the hippodrome workers. It cannot be said that this is the most spectacular sport, such as horse racing or show jumping, but it captivates the viewer and allows one to clearly demonstrate the capabilities of the four-legged favorites of the hippodrome, the Oryol trotters. 
67. As for the conditions of keeping the horses, my opinion here is contradictory. 
68. On the one hand, horses run freely around the paddock, easily approach strangers and are not afraid of them. This is a good sign that animals are treated well here. I would like to believe that there is not all the disgusting behavior that often happens in equestrian sports, including influencing horses for the sake of improving results. 
69. On the other hand, the very condition of the stables leaves much to be desired. I compare with the same private owners. The stables are clearly very old, plus stone and concrete. In terms of fire safety, this is good, but a large amount of stone in the structure has a bad effect on the health of horses, since this material does not heat up well. Well, dirt. The cleanliness is far from ideal; many of the stalls have little sawdust and are old in some places, with cobwebs hanging. Naturally, this is unacceptable. 
70. To make it easier for horses to walk in the stables, you can see an interesting device - a kind of swing to which animals are tied and they walk in a circle. As a result, you can walk several at once and do not necessarily have to constantly monitor them. Walking is walking before or after training and performances, a kind of warm-up or rest.
Upd.: in the comments they say that they are “stepping back” correctly. 
71. That's all! 
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It is considered the oldest in Russia. In addition, it is the first hippodrome where they began testing trotters for agility. It was founded in 1834. It combines two functions: testing both racing and trotting horses. The Moscow hippodrome is one of the few places where testing is carried out all year round under any circumstances and in any weather conditions.
Races are held every Sunday. In addition, in the summer spectators can enjoy the trials of Arabian and purebred
Now the hippodrome on Begovaya is famous for the fact that a variety of prizes are played there - both personalized and traditional. It also hosts various well-known competitions for riding and trotting horses, which attract the “prize elite” from the best hippodromes.
When did the Moscow Hippodrome begin its work?
On August 1, 1834, trotter races took place for the first time on Khodynskoye Field. This day is considered the beginning of the history of the hippodrome in Moscow. In the opening year, only a couple of racing days were held and only twelve horses were tested. In the late 1880s, trainers and jockeys began to improve distance records. The number of heads of starting horses has been expanded. In addition, in addition to trotting and racing, show jumping and steeplechases have become popular. To carry them out, the hippodrome in Moscow equipped a special track that crossed the circle diagonally. The main building was completed in 1894, which became known as the Running Gazebo. In the 1950s it was reconstructed.
Hippodrome in Moscow during the Civil War and after
During the Civil War, the hippodrome was mothballed. Military training took place on its territory, and rallies were held in the stands. At the same time, Lenin himself spoke at one of the rallies. Horse testing began again in 1920, and trotter racing resumed in September 1921. In 1929, more than a thousand horses passed trotting tests. At the same time, the betting shop was opened. Until 1930, racing and trotting hippodromes in Moscow were separate enterprises, but were located next to each other. Due to the need to reconstruct the railway, the question of moving the racetrack arose. Therefore, this year the merger of these two racecourses was carried out.
Development of the hippodrome after perestroika
Relatively recently (in 1997), an equestrian school for children appeared at the hippodrome. In 2012, the long-awaited betting shop resumed its work. Profits are used to support horse breeding. In 2013, a record number of horses were tested - more than eight hundred. In the same year, many records were set among Oryol trotters, which indicates the rapid development of this breed.
Now the hippodrome in Moscow is a complex mechanism that includes many different systems. Its area is forty hectares, and its carrying capacity is more than a thousand horses per year. Therefore, if you want to attend horse racing in Moscow, be sure to pay attention to this place. The hippodrome has a car park, a horse infirmary and a quarantine facility.
Trotter trials
The hippodrome on Begovaya regularly tests trotters. These tests have both selection significance for the development and formation of breeds, and simply for sport. The latter direction gradually began to prevail. Now horse racing in Moscow and trotting have become professional equestrian sports. The length of the trotting tracks is 1600 meters. The surface is dense, soil or artificial. Some Russian hippodromes conduct tests not only in summer, but also in winter - on tracks with an ice surface. At the same time, in special horseshoes with spikes. In addition, sometimes trotters race along a snow-covered track in sleds. Mostly trotters compete at distances of 1600 or 2400 meters.
In rare cases, the length of the distance is 3200 meters. In the races, horses are divided into age groups. Horses of different breeds can run together, but there are competitions in which horses of only one breed compete. In tests for trotters, horses must necessarily cover the entire distance with only one gait - trot. If a horse goes astray, it may be disqualified and subsequently deprived of any promotion. In addition, horses that run at an incorrect trot or amble will be excluded from competition.
How trotters are trained
For a horse to perform well, it must be well trained. In this case, training should be daily. The training scheme for a trotting horse looks something like this: first day - walk and short trot; second day - step on a special walker (a device that resembles a carousel) or complete rest; third day - trot; fourth day - swing work; from the fifth to the seventh day - trot; eighth day - frisky trot; ninth day - step on the walker and rest; tenth day - swing work again. The following days include fly work, trot work and, finally, prize riding. A similar scheme is used for horses that have reached the age of two. In this case, horses perform, as a rule, once every two weeks. Training for three-year-old horses is usually more intense. The results of the races are recorded on cards. They are then used by breeders in breeding work. The main indicator is the agility shown by the horse during the entire test period.
Racehorse trials
A very spectacular spectacle - horse racing. You can purchase tickets to the hippodrome immediately before the start of the competition. Racing tests are carried out on tracks with sand or dirt surfaces, they take place from May to October. Riding horses for racing are divided into In addition, there are separate competitions for Arabian, thoroughbred riding, Akhal-Teke and Budenov breeds. In racing trials, it is important that the jockey's weight fits within the standards for each group. The hippodrome sometimes hosts steeplechase races in which horses must overcome barriers made of brushwood.
How racehorses are trained
Racehorses are trained according to special patterns, just like trotters. As a rule, each day a racehorse should trot for about 10 or 15 minutes, run a short canter for a distance of 1800 to 3600 meters and then walk away. In this case, the walking time should be at least twenty minutes. In the evening, it is recommended for the horse to work at a walk for one hour. Very often this work is done without a saddle. This provides peace and comfort for the horse, namely his back. Along with this relatively easy work, intense agility training is also carried out - sweeps and gallops. They are usually performed on Saturdays and Wednesdays.
Equestrian school for children
Since ancient times, man has worked and lived side by side with a horse. But now, in times of general progress, the horse has faded into the background. However, people, and especially children, love horses and love spending time with them. The Moscow hippodrome is famous for its horse riding school. You can learn to ride from the age of three to five. In this case, it is advisable to consult a doctor in advance to identify hidden diseases. Parents must remember that a horse is a strong animal, and care must be taken to purchase the necessary equipment for their child. This is not only comfortable clothing that will not chafe, but also a durable helmet that will protect the child's head during a fall from a horse, should one occur. To enroll in a riding school, you need to come to the address: Begovaya street, building 22.
How does the world's oldest running racetrack live?
Entertainment - like those rare animals or irrelevant professions - they too may be in danger of extinction. So it is with running - the era has passed, but they lingered. They are losing popularity to horse racing and are retreating under the onslaught of entertainment in the online era. A TASS correspondent visited the famous Central Moscow Hippodrome, where retired horsemen work as tour guides, veteran riders often take part in cross-country races, and regulars with half a century of experience place bets on the results of the races.
From pasture to racetrack
November, chilly Sunday morning, snow and rain. Moscow Central Hippodrome. Horses harnessed to small rocking chairs (carts, chariots, carriages - whatever they are called by novice spectators) race briskly along the circular paths. In the rocking chairs there are riders and riders.
How is running different from horse racing?
Racing is a competition in which horses move at a trot, crossing their legs crosswise. The speed of the reference trotters is 10 m/s. The horse is controlled by a rider in a rocking chair.
During the race, the horse is controlled by a jockey who is in the saddle, and the horse itself runs at a gallop.
The picture is unusual for ordinary people who think that horse competitions at the hippodrome are when a rider is in the saddle on a horse. That is, they imagine horse racing, but see racing. There are also horse races at this hippodrome, but not in snow and rain, but only in the warm season.
"This is the first trotting racetrack in the world. It opened in 1834. The second racing racetrack appeared in America only in 1839. Then racing spread to other countries. Everything you see around is the place where the world racing culture began ", - an elderly lady in a smart black coat, local guide Elena Peterson, artistically gestures around everything around with her graceful palms, as if summing up: “This is everything you see.”
All we see are the old monumental stands, where regulars have already taken their seats. Every Sunday they come three to four hours before the start of the race to watch the training: which horse is in good shape and will be the favorite today, and which one is out of sorts and should not bet on it.
Marble chips are added to cover the tracks at the hippodrome. Marble is springy, making it easier for horses to withstand race day
We also see racetrack employees who go to work quietly and away from the racetracks so as not to disturb the horses. After all, trotters, despite their large size, are shy. They do not like noise and harsh sounds, so almost everyone wears multi-colored earplugs.
History of the hippodrome on Begovaya
The first building of the hippodrome on Begovaya appeared in 1899 - with large stands, spacious halls for social events and the office of Nicholas II.
A fire destroyed it in 1949, and in 1955 a new hippodrome was built here in the monumental Stalinist style. The building was designed by the famous architect Ivan Zholtovsky, the author of the House on Mokhovaya, two side wings of the State Bank building on Neglinnaya Street.
Zholtovsky was considered a prominent representative of neoclassicism and a fan of Greek architecture, so on his “Stalin paintings” you can see light, elegant details and unusual for the general appearance.
The four horses that stand on the roof of the hippodrome are quadrigas. Quadriga competitions were popular in Ancient Greece, but such a sport has never existed in Russia.
Elena Peterson is 81 years old. She's not the only retired guide at the racecourse. Tour guides are often former horsemen and livestock specialists who have retired but do not want to part with their horses.
“So it turns out there are a lot of elderly people. You’ll see for yourself,” she says, coquettishly adjusting her warm beret.
Elena Evgenievna is a former livestock specialist. A native Muscovite, but she worked at a stud farm in the Ryazan region. When I retired, I realized that I couldn’t and didn’t want to live without horses. And for more than 30 years she has been conducting excursions here. Every Sunday, two to three hours outside, in any weather.
“Besides the fact that this is the first trotting hippodrome in the world, its peculiarity is that it is located very close to the Kremlin. Five to six kilometers in a straight line,” says the guide. “This is a unique case. Nowhere else in Russia is there a hippodrome located like this close to the city center. Even in small towns, horse riding areas are moved to the suburbs or at least to the outskirts."
However, at the time of its foundation, the Moscow hippodrome was located outside the city limits - ideas about distances in the 19th century were completely different, and here, a few kilometers from Red Square, there were pasture lands - pastures for livestock.
“Horse racing hunters asked to build a trotting hippodrome. Among them were energetic, business-minded people, and so the site appeared in the same year. But horse racing fans turned out to be not so tenacious; at that time they were toiling without their own racetrack,” says Peterson.
And this despite the fact that horse racing in Russia appeared much earlier than racing - in 1790. They were held in the suburbs of the capital, in an open field - the organizers drew circles, start and finish lines, and a betting system was running.
The roof of the hippodrome building is decorated with a quadriga (four horses). Directly below it is the Old Believer star
Despite the fact that in 1834 the hippodrome was built specifically for racing, horse racing was also held there, which eventually became more popular. On a good day, several hundred people come to the race. And on high-profile racing days, if, for example, the presidential prize is being played out, there are several thousand spectators.
Rich people who are partial to horses prefer to keep horses - purebred riding horses, Arabian or Akhal-Teke horses.
However, horse racing and racing do not compete at this hippodrome. And their proximity is also a feature. “We say - a combined hippodrome. These exist only in the territories of former Tsarist Russia, which also includes Poland and Finland,” explains Peterson.
Factory owners' dream
Initially, trotters, that is, horses that can move by running, were bred not for sport and spectacle, but for the rapid transportation of passengers and cargo.
Trotters do not like loud and harsh sounds, so riders wear earplugs on them
Count Alexey Orlov, the creator of the breed, was friends with industrialists who at all times dreamed of reducing costs.
The journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow on ordinary workhorses took up to two weeks, which, of course, affected the price of goods. And industrialists were ready to invest in breeding a breed that was both fast and hardy.
In parallel, this was already being done in Europe. For example, the Dutch had beautiful long-maned horses that could trot along the sand. Their trot, however, was “raw” and unstable.
“Running is not natural for horses,” explains Peterson, leading us to the hippodrome museum, where pictures of famous trotters are hung on the walls. “Running is an artificially developed skill. If breeders have not worked on the breed, it knows only one way to move quickly - gallop. Racehorses move by nature. Runners don’t.”
Orlov founded a stud farm near Voronezh, where he began breeding a Russian breed of trotters capable of running fast and withstanding the Russian cold. Producers crossed European horses (which showed an unstable trot) and the most durable Arabian horses.
The Arabian horse Smetanka was bought from the Turkish Sultan at exorbitant prices. It was his genes that allowed breeders to achieve success.
“The horse had to be able to run at least 60 kilometers along a rough road, and at the same time it was required that it come running not wet, but only slightly sweaty,” says Peterson. “There are more than ten points in total by which breeders evaluated Oryol trotters. Not I passed one at a time - it doesn’t suit the tribe. All the points concerned strength, endurance, attentiveness, but only one stood out - beauty.”
Smetanka did not live long, he died in a stable in the Moscow region a year or less later - according to the most common version, he could not stand the Russian climate.
Trotters have become one of the visual symbols of Russia - the famous “Russian troika” is traditionally equipped with horses of this breed. “The need for beauty is only a Russian feature,” Peterson emphasizes. “Then American trotters were brought to Russia - unsightly, scanty - and now they showed us agility... Today American trotters are the fastest in the world. Like a Formula 1 car in front of an ordinary car But outwardly they cannot be compared with our beauties."
Whether it was beauty or excitement, if it weren’t for bored nobles who wanted to win and lose money on the races, horses bred to carry goods might have disappeared as machines spread.
Jockeys and riders
There are many women among the riders. There are no special requirements for an athlete who works with trotting horses in terms of age, weight or height
What is more beautiful - running or racing? Peterson says that the question does not pose this way: each sport has its own fans, just as some people love football, and others love hockey. But they are radically different. “It is difficult for the average person to distinguish a run from a gallop, and an Oryol trotter from a racehorse. But a rider from a jockey is easier, based on his physique,” explains the guide.
Jockeys are thin, light boys; in order to participate in races, they need to maintain an almost model weight, on average from 48 to 55 kilograms. “They take a 14-16 year old boy to train as a jockey,” she says. “They take him based on the weight and height of his parents. There won’t be a boy from a big and tall father who can stay at that weight throughout the summer season.”
The guide remembers a “big boy, 172 centimeters tall,” who was having a hard time. “His wife complained that he swayed from side to side. At the same time, a jockey loses up to 5 kilograms of weight on a hard racing day. Just don’t be jealous,” she habitually jokes with tourists. “A woman who loses that much in a day may end up in the hospital.” That’s why ladies don’t take part in horse racing.”
But there are a lot of female riders on the run. “The rider does not need to maintain a certain shape - the rocker is adjusted to the weight: you can be fat, thin, athletic or not... But it is important to be a strong person.” First of all, morally strong.
“Otherwise you will lose contact with the horse,” Peterson points to the track where the trotter breaks into a gallop. “He will do whatever comes into his head. He needs to feel that there is a strong athlete behind him. We have a rider Alla Mikhailovna Polzunova, she is over 80 years old, she doesn’t participate in races now, but on holidays she can do a victory lap around the track. The horse feels like she’s dealing with a professional.”
“Your horse ran for a walk in the Kremlin Christmas trees”
“We had one horse in the Soviet years... Strict - that’s what they say about horses that require a lot of attention and do not forgive the weakness of the rider. If he sees that an inexperienced guy is in the rocking chair, he breaks the harness and runs away from the track. He always rushed to one side - to where the Kremlin is. They called me from our security and said: “Your horse has again run for a walk in the Kremlin Christmas trees,” Alla Polzunova laughs.
Alla Mikhailovna is an elderly woman with a stick. The same legendary rider who now goes out on the track only on holidays. But she comes to the hippodrome more often. Almost every Sunday he watches the races in the director's box.
“Trotters are the best breed, for me, among all horse breeds. Racehorses? Yes, they are capricious! I don’t like Akhal-Teke horses, they have quirks. Nervous, very impressionable,” she twirls her hand, as if explaining: this way and that, it’s not clear how the brains are they work.
Young female riders came to greet her, they nodded: Oryol trotters are their own guys, it’s easy and calm with them.
Alla Polzunova has been racing Oryol trotters since the 50s. It is admitted that after working with such horses, it is difficult to understand the capricious and gentle racehorses.
“Whoa,” Polzunov briefly stops one of the riders, who is trying to pour her tea. “I myself.” She admits that, on the one hand, she is not very objective. All her life she was engaged in Oryol trotters, and only with them, many of her horses were considered the best. Who else should she praise?
On the other hand, no one kept it from this breed. But you start to compare - everything is in favor of the Oryol team. "The French don't have very smart trotters. The Russian trotter - everything is too mixed in their blood. The Americans - yes, they are a good breed, but can an American compare in appearance with a handsome Orlovets?"
What happened to the horse that kept running away? - I ask.
They sent him to a riding school, and then took him to star in a Soviet film. Artist!
"I can't leave the horses"
“There are two trainers at our stable: me and my daughter. She performs as a rider. I rarely participate as a rider; I rode out three times in a month,” says Vitaly Tanishin, an international class trainer; he is 79 years old.
“If I’m not at the stables, I think that I didn’t do something. After the army, I worked in the metro on the Koltsevaya, drove trains. I worked there, lowered the controller handle - that’s it. It’s different here. I can’t leave the horses. If the horse gets sick , the duty officer at the stable will immediately call either the infirmary or me. And it is not known who will be the first to get up in the middle of the night and go.”
Tanishin has a friend here, Anatoly Sergeevich Kozlov, he is 83 years old - he is the oldest rider at the hippodrome. Vitaly Konstantinovich constantly mentions him in conversation: “I think so, but Kozlov thinks differently...”
He has almost more stories about such fellow horsemen than victories. And, according to him, there were many victories.
“Kozlov loves to train. And I always loved to perform. I won good competitions. I traveled all over the world. At this hippodrome, I probably hold the record for the number of performances. I had a favorite horse - a Russian trotter. He had a problem - he started too temperamentally , he struggled. Sometimes we take part in a race where the horses are definitely stronger than him. But he gets ahead at the start, and then he can’t, he gives in. It turns out that he showed a lot of himself and couldn’t do it.”
He loved him, Tanishin says, not only because of his victories and ambition, but also because of his good character: “He will give everything he can. He will not spare any effort. He is flexible. Sometimes horses don’t listen - this never happened to him.”
A horse's performance in racing depends only a quarter on the rider. A jockey's skill in horse racing means much more.
At the same time, Tanishin, unlike many young horsemen, does not idealize horses or endow them with human qualities. For example, in the equestrian world there is a long-standing debate - can a horse love a person? Some say no. Others are sure that their favorite horses reciprocate their feelings. Still others explain that not all breeds, they say, can only race Akhal-Teke horses, because the breed is ancient, and besides, breeders have not worked much on the character of Akhal-Teke horses.
Bets: money or interest
We speak with Tanishin after all the races. The totos players began to leave the stands - that’s what the players in the horse betting are called. There are even fewer young spectators than young riders. Totoshniks are mostly pensioners.
Most of the spectators in the stands of the Moscow Central Hippodrome are retired men. Everyone has a running program, less often - binoculars
They say that during the Soviet Union there were such crowds of spectators and such solid winnings that you could buy a car. Those days are gone; now there are no such sold-out crowds. There are no longer, as in the Soviet years, queues in front of the hippodrome - you can’t hit such a jackpot. But you can win an increase in your pension.
What is the first thing that comes to mind when we hear the word hippodrome? Surely for many it is running, betting, excitement, big wins and crushing losses. So I was thinking in the same direction, but after visiting the Central Moscow Hippodrome on a tour, such concepts as equestrian sports, testing and development of horse breeds pushed aside the entire gambling topic in my perception.
Below the cut is my story about a trip to the Moscow Hippodrome.
2. First, some information. This year, the Central Moscow Hippodrome (hereinafter referred to as the CMI) is holding its 180th anniversary season; August 1, 1834 is considered its birthday.
Unfortunately, the first building of the hippodrome has not survived to this day; it was completely destroyed by fire in 1949. The current hippodrome building was built in 1955 according to the design of academician of architecture Zholtovsky. It is noteworthy that next to the CMS there is a building of a racing society, built before the revolution, also according to Zholtovsky’s design.
3. Before the reconstruction, the façade of the building was decorated with two quadrigas,
4. ...but one of them was damaged during reconstruction and now we see one quadriga above the portico and four horses remaining from the second, standing alone - two above each entrance.
5. Spectator stands at the hippodrome.
The hippodrome building is an architectural monument and is preserved in its original form.
6. View of the stands from the opposite edge. In the foreground is the glassed-in veranda of the restaurant.
7. A beautiful staircase and a royal box, it is glazed.
8. Above the royal box there is a room where the chief judge is located.
The bell gives the signal to prepare for the race; it is struck at the start and finish. This is the same bell that was rung at the Moscow hippodrome in the 19th century, perhaps it is the same age as him, well, maybe it is a little less than 180 years old.
By the way, the chief judge has assistants directly on the track, I will show them to you a little lower.
9. And above the judge’s room there is such a beautiful stained glass window.
10. Sector C stands, a ticket here costs 150 rubles, when you buy a ticket you receive a test program.
11. But these places with tables are located in sectors A and B, a ticket here costs 300 rubles,
12. ...but there is an option to buy a family ticket for 400 rubles for two adults and, let’s say, for an unlimited number of children under 14 years old. Very convenient for a family trip to the racetrack. At the tables, waiters serve food and drinks from the restaurant. And children's ears will not hear the intensity of passions seething in sector C.
13. I got to the racetrack thanks to the community. mosblog
, I arrived a little earlier than planned and was able to walk around the still empty premises of the hippodrome.
This is the hall where bets are accepted.
14. Please note that there are trash cans all around the hall, but at the end of the races the floor will be littered with checks with unsuccessful bets.
15. There is also a betting hall, but on a higher floor, I liked it more than the previous one, here time seemed to have stopped and if it weren’t for the monitors on the columns, you would think that it was the 80s of the last century, or the 60s. Yes, but I can’t say anything about them, since I wasn’t there yet, but in the 80s my childhood passed.
If you decide to place bets on a betting site, but have never done so before, then I advise you to explore the site CMI , there is a “sweepstakes” section where everything is explained in detail.
I am not a gambling person and have not plunged into this area; even the postulate “beginners are lucky” did not encourage me to play))
16. Now let's look at the hippodrome itself where the tests are carried out.
The Central Moscow Hippodrome is the first trotting hippodrome in the world, and I’ll tell you what it is now.
Do you think horse racing and racing are the same thing or are they different things?
Horse racing is when competitions take place on horseback, driven by jockeys, and races take place between horses harnessed to carts, and riders sit in them.
In the foreground we see a racing track, it has the softest surface, race horses are very sensitive to this, then there are two tracks with a harder surface, which is where the racing takes place.
Due to the sensitivity of racehorses to the surface, our racing season runs only from May to September, but trotters can run in both rain and snow; in winter, the track for them is generally filled with ice, this makes it easier to maintain a flat surface of the track in the cold season . In winter, horses are shod with spiked shoes.
18. And here we are already in the hippodrome museum, Elena Evgenievna Peterson shows us in the picture the very first Oryol trotter.
Elena Evgenievna used to work at the Horse Breeding Research Institute; after she retired, she did not leave her favorite job and now conducts very interesting excursions at the hippodrome museum. It’s one thing when they tell you a memorized excursion and another when the narrator is an expert in this matter. Both Elena Evgenievna and Yulia Gareeva, a livestock specialist by training, are specialists in the field of horses, they are very good storytellers and not a single question on the topic (well, of course, except stupid ones) leads them to a dead end.
18. The museum keeps a lot of stories, for example, I only learned here about the peculiarities of the Russian troika: it turns out that the root horse, the horse in the center of the troika, always trots, but the tethered horses run at a gallop. The root man sets the direction for the troika, and the runners carry him. The troika is our invention and there is nothing like it in other countries.
19. An interesting table and cabinet, they stood at the first hippodrome, were saved during the fire and for a long time were the interior of the director’s office. Now they decorate the museum.
20. After the museum, we went up to the stands to watch one of the races.
Walking in the room under the stands, we met him - probably the most famous horse in folklore.
Alexander Sergeevich Kon, in person.
21. The start of the race takes place behind a special starting machine; this technique was introduced at the Central Exhibition Center in 1965; it simplified the start procedure and equalized the capabilities of all participants in the race.
The fact is that with other starting methods that were used earlier, there was the possibility of making false starts, thereby unscrupulous riders on calm horses seemed to incapacitate the more emotional horses of their rivals: a couple of false starts, and some horses simply dropped out of the fight.
Pay attention to the car moving parallel to the race; it is in it that the assistants of the chief judge, whom I mentioned above, are located; they monitor compliance with the rules during the race, for example, a rider cannot use a whip more than 7 times in a race.
23. On the day we were at the hippodrome, two traditional prizes were drawn. The photo shows the awarding of the prize to Talented, who was included in the first group of prizes. The prize is named after the stallion Talented, and it is awarded to horses two years of age.
It turned out funny - the prize is awarded to horses, but the person receives it))), I remembered an excerpt from an old humorous story - “... he was so proud of the medal his dog received at the exhibition that he himself wore her on the lapel of his jacket."
We went to the stables.
25. On the territory of the hippodrome there are about 30 stables, which house approximately 1000 horses.The horse's diet consists of oats and hay. A horse eats 7 kg of oats and 9 kg of hay per day.
26. Wandering around this large town, and the area of the hippodrome is more than 30 hectares, the thought did not leave me - how this entire large territory survived our “it” time without loss, there were probably many who wanted to chop off a piece of land located not far from the center of Moscow, and build an elite residential complex on it.
27. Notice the horse’s headphones in the previous photo? At first I thought that this was a kind of horse fashion, but it turned out that this was not so and had nothing to do with decoration.The fact is that horses are by nature very timid creatures, which is why, so that they are not distracted by external stimuli during the race, they are wearing various devices. Special silicone plugs are inserted into the ears, and to prevent them from falling out, headphones-covers are put on. To limit peripheral vision, blenders are put on the horse’s eyes, their second name is blinders, we know it by the expression “blindfolded person”, one who does not see at all what is happening around him. A cute plush brace on the horse's face covers everything under his feet, it's called a muff.
But it all depends on the temperament of the horses; some can do without such devices.
30. But horses are not the only inhabitants of the stables; cats always live on each of them; they are the main fighters against rodents encroaching on free oats.
There are also quite a few dogs living at the hippodrome; all the ones I saw were completely indifferent to cats and did not chase them around in vain.
31. In general, a very friendly atmosphere reigns in the town of the hippodrome; not a single dog barked at our group, but we were strangers to them; apparently, the love for animals that reigns here influences the peacefulness of four-legged animals.
32. Cats not only sing in March, this hippodrome singer apparently wanted to earn extra food from me.
33. The cat is on the roof, so the mice in the house are switched to a “quieter” position.
34. Stable patrol.
35. These carts are called rocking chairs. Previously, trotters ran harnessed to a droshky, but later the American model of a cart came to us, and it is they that are used to this day.
36. I have already shown the outside of the stable, this is how it looks from the inside.
37. Each horse has its own separate room, it is called a stall.
In the “Where do you work” section, we continue to talk about iconic non-residential buildings in Moscow. In the new issue - the Central Moscow Hippodrome on Begovaya Street, where on June 11 the races for the President's Prize will take place, which Vladimir Putin is going to visit. The Village has been there before to find out how the historic site is adapting to new times, who works there, how many people go to the races and how much the luckiest players win.
Central Moscow Hippodrome
Address
st. Running. 22
Date of foundation
Hippodrome area
40 hectares
Number of seats in the stands
3.5 thousand
Architects
I. T. Baryutin, S. F. Kulagin, R. I. Klein (1899), reconstruction by I. V. Zholtovsky (1951–1955)
Story
The Moscow Trotting Hippodrome is the oldest in Russia and the first in the world to host trotting competitions. For the Russian elite of the 18th century, horse breeding was akin to the passion of some billionaires for expensive cars - at their factories, nobles sought to breed ideal horses for comfortable movement on Russian roads. It was to test the Oryol trotters (a breed bred by the brother of Catherine II’s favorite, Count A.G. Orlov) that trotting races began on Khodynka. True, before the lands of the Khodynskoye Field were located far outside the city, and not on the Third Transport Ring. The first wooden “gazebo” appeared on this site in 1834, after the count’s death. By the way, the weather vane on the tower of the Moscow Hippodrome depicts not just a horse, but one of the most famous and beautiful Russian horses of the 19th century named Ashonok.
From the very beginning, the place began to attract gamblers, but then the winnings were small - no more than 10% of the bet amount. The public began to come to the racetrack in large numbers when betting appeared in the 1870s. In 1882, a new building of the Trotting Hippodrome was built according to the design of the architect Chichagov, and in 1900 a reconstruction was carried out here according to the designs of the architects Baryutin and Kulagin with the participation of Klein.
In the 1920s, after the revolution, racing resumed, and in 1930 the neighboring Skakovaya Hippodrome, on the site of which they began to build a railway, was annexed to Begovoi - this is how the Central Moscow Hippodrome arose. In 1949, the old building almost completely burned down; academician Ivan Vladislavovich Zholtovsky became the architect of the new one. For him, the Moscow Hippodrome turned out to be the last in his life and one of the most large-scale projects.
Sergey Sergeev
architectural historian
When carrying out the reconstruction of the hippodrome, Zholtovsky took into account the parameters of Leningradsky Prospekt and Begovaya Street. During the reconstruction, the stands doubled in size - from two tiers to four. The facade received two accents - a tower on the left and a portico with a colonnade under a triangular pediment on the right. Thus, the architect combined the images of two main monuments of Moscow - the Kremlin and the Bolshoi Theater. I believe that this style can be called “specific historicism” - an orientation towards the best achievements of the history of world architecture in the conditions of the mid-twentieth century, perhaps with a somewhat utopian tinge.
It is interesting that the architectural design of the hippodrome uses both the shape of a basilica and a pentagram (the star of Solomon, conjuring spirits and demons). In my opinion, this is Zholtovsky’s return to the memory of his connections with the Old Believers Ryabushinsky (Elena Ryabushinskaya was his first wife) and, to some extent, the theme of secret knowledge.
Since 1955, all international trotting competitions have been held at the Central Moscow Hippodrome, and the betting machine has always been open. It was so profitable that the proceeds were used to finance one of the restorations of the Bolshoi Theater, the renovation of the Botkin Hospital and the construction of the tower houses that still surround the hippodrome.
After the collapse of the USSR in 1992, horse racing stopped and was resumed only in 2000. Today, the complex on Begovaya is part of the state company Rosippodromes, which unites all state-owned hippodromes in the country. Horses participating in racing and racing are owned primarily by private owners. In total, the hippodrome, together with the summer stables, can accommodate up to 1,000 horses, and not all of them live here permanently: only trotters remain for the winter, the rest of the horses are transported to stud farms.
About work
In 1958, I graduated from the Timiryazev Agricultural Academy with a degree in livestock engineering and was assigned to go to work at the 1st Moscow Stud Farm. But there were no full-time positions there, and I went to work as an assistant to my teacher - the legendary rider and trainer Alexander Fedorovich Sheltsyn - at the Moscow Hippodrome. To do this, I had to ask the director of the stud farm to write an official letter to the director of the hippodrome - then people with higher education could not work as assistant riders. But my desire was very strong - even as a child I decided to study only horses.
Since then I have been working at the hippodrome. I competed as a rider until 1996. At the same time, she studied science and defended her dissertation on training trotters for different types of higher nervous activity. To understand what they are, these types of VND, my colleagues and I went to stud farms for seven years and examined 3 thousand horses! I have also been teaching since 1974 and still conduct training at the equestrian school. The school itself is located in the Voronezh region, and a branch was opened at our hippodrome.
About the riders of the old century
When the old hippodrome burned down, of course, the authorities began to look for pests. At the same time, they wanted to get rid of “unreliable” workers. So, my teacher Alexander Fedorovich Sheltsyn was exiled to the Krasnoyarsk region. In 1953, after Stalin’s death, he returned to Moscow and became head of the training department in Timiryazevka, where I met him. Like all old horse breeders, he was a man of high culture - everyone remembers his gentle disposition, his skill in handling horses. He even called young students and grooms by their first and patronymic names; there was never any swearing in front of him at the stables. He worked with Oryol trotters, a breed for which the Moscow Hippodrome is famous.
As for female riders, at the beginning of the century there were so few of them that the only female rider at our hippodrome - Vera Vladimirovna Kostenskaya - wore men's trousers and spoke about herself only in the masculine gender. More women entered the racetrack in the 1930s. When I came here, I became one of five riders, in total there were 120 riders at the hippodrome. Women competed equally with men, as they do now - in equestrian business, gender does not matter, it’s all about communication between man and horse. Learning to communicate with a horse is a real art, and a very human one at that, because the main thing here is the soul.
About the past and present
During the Soviet years, the stands were full of people on every running day - not only spectators, but also players! After the ban on gambling in 2006, the betting shop closed, and we lost more visitors. Now we are fighting to bring the public back: our equestrian school continues to operate, in which we work with children, and in general we try to be closer to the people - for example, on March 8, we brought horses to the stands, allowed us to take pictures with them and communicate.
In Soviet times, horse racing was supported at the state level - the hippodrome, the Institute of Horse Breeding, and stud farms in the regions were under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Agriculture. And with the collapse of the Union, we lost state support. Therefore, in 1991, on the basis and with the help of the Moscow Hippodrome, we opened the “Commonwealth of Trotting Horse Breeding”. It publishes the Begovye Vedomosti magazine and holds competitions - for example, the European Championship of Young Riders. We are also trying to preserve our famous breed of horses - the Orlov Trotter.
About work
The history of the Central Moscow Hippodrome is a continuation of my previous work. I am a native Muscovite, but most of my life - 36 years - I worked at the All-Union Research Institute of Horse Breeding in the Rybnovsky district near Ryazan. I am a livestock specialist by profession; for the last 16 years at the research institute I have been the head of the scientific archive, where I created the institute’s museum.
In 1996, I returned to Moscow and in 2002 at the invitation of Alla Mikhailovna Polzunova, whom I had known for a long time - who doesn’t know her in our field! - I came to work at the Moscow Hippodrome in the museum as a guide, because I already had museum experience.
About the museum
The first director of the hippodrome museum was Alexander Valentinovich Levin, who created it, a master rider and chairman of the trade union committee.
After Levin retired, I worked as the head of the museum until 2014, and then became a tour guide; we are constantly working to expand the topics of our excursions. Alexander Valentinovich collected many unique exhibits and photographic documents. And you can talk about the place itself for hours.
About the secrets and symbols of the building
The museum premises itself are very interesting, in which an unusual ceiling has been preserved - these are the Monier vaults, they were built only until the 1920s. Previously, the hippodrome, built in 1900, was considered completely lost. Now it is clear that it was built into the building of the architect Zholtovsky. The shaped fence of the running track at the edge of the field has also been preserved from the previous building.
Academician of architecture Roman Klein participated in the construction of the racing hippodrome in 1900, and in our museum there is furniture created according to his sketches - this is a wardrobe and table from the office of Nicholas II at the racetrack, which burned down in 1918.
One of the main accents of the facade from the Begovaya side is the majestic multi-tiered tower, which uses motifs of medieval Italian and Old Russian architecture. There is a very interesting “quote” here: on its middle tier, on the front part, the silhouettes of two horsemen are visible. Such horsemen - Dmitry Solunsky and St. George the Victorious - were installed in the 15th century on the Frolovskaya tower of the Kremlin (now Spasskaya).
Anton Valuev
Head of betting development department, working since 2014
About work
I came to the hippodrome two years ago as a specialist in the betting development department, having responded to a vacancy. My education is suitable - institutional management. I immediately wanted to work in this team - I was inspired by the ambitiousness of the tasks set: we started from scratch to build something that had been forgotten for many years. OJSC Rosippodromes received a license to conduct betting in 2014. We are opening betting points - for example, this season they began operating at the Novosibirsk and Omsk hippodromes. This is unusual for the local public, so we teach employees how to attract people and explain the rules of the game at the races.
Finding out where I work, my friends were sincerely surprised: many had not heard that in Moscow there is a hippodrome where horses are tested every week. First, people come to admire the horses, then they place a bet or two - and many get involved and become frequent visitors.
How to bet and win on horse racing?
Tote is different from bookmakers and lotteries. In a bookmaker's office, a player places a bet and plays against bookmakers according to the casino principle: either receives money or gives it completely to the organizer of the game. In the betting, the principle of mutual betting applies: players make bets among themselves, thereby creating a common pool of bets. Those who correctly guessed the outcome of the event divide the winnings among themselves, and the totalizer acts as an arbiter, taking for itself an “intermediary” percentage - up to 30% of the pool.
The main feature of the betting is the dynamic winning odds, which change until the start of the race. The simplest bet is “Single”. The player must guess the winner of a race or race. There are also more complex bets, for example, “Quadruple Express” - you need to guess four horses in the exact sequence of arriving at the finish line. The winnings on such bets are larger. The amounts also vary depending on the horse: if the underdog horse wins, those who bet on it receive more than if they bet on the favorite, whose victory is more expected. Well, the most difficult game is “6 wins”. You need to guess the first horses in six races. Players do not fully know how much they will win in complex types of bets, since it is not known in advance how many other people have bet on the winning combination.
It was at this game at the beginning of 2017 that one of the visitors took away the largest winnings - 1 million 18 thousand rubles. By the way, you can bet not only on Russian horse races - you can also participate in the French betting PMU (Paris Mutuel Urbain, “Mutual City Bet”). There are winnings and the level of players is higher.
Now we are gradually reviving equestrian betting and want to open it at all operating racetracks in Russia. Let me note that this is not just a game of chance, but an intellectual game. Of course, luck has its place, but the player must study the horse's performance history, its pedigree, the rider's experience, weigh all the factors and only then place a bet.
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