With 10 horses running in each race, it would seem that the odds of any one district running winning would be 1:10, or a 10% probability for the Wave to win.

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In the Cajun match races, McNamara said owners who didn't use jockeys would hedge their bets by tying beer cans filled with rocks to the horses' manes to scare them into running harder or, in some cases, fastening on a live chicken.

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In the past few weeks, horses from Mr Dartnall's stables were running at Wincanton, Exeter and Chepstow.

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The bugle has called the horses to the post, and it's almost time for the 139th running of the Kentucky Derby.

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Perhaps the Renaissance writer who conceived it had a vision of a fire-streaming cat running through enemy lines, bewildering the enemy soldiers and scaring their horses.

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Video of the annual riderless race in Ronciglione shows that horses there do make turns, although the surface is slippery and they don't seem to be running at full speed.

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