In colonial America, the most popular sport was horse racing. A number of early presidents of the United States were avid fans.
“Presidential parties attending horse races was once a common occurrence in the colonial period and early republic. Even before the seat of national government moved from Philadelphia to the new capital of Washington, D.C. in 1800, horse racing was a popular and well-established sport in the region. George Washington, statesman, general, and president, embodied this generation of early Americans who found sport and pleasure in horse racing. Washington regularly attended and wagered on horse races throughout his life at meetings in Annapolis, Alexandria, and Williamsburg.
Richard Nixon is the only president to have attended the Kentucky Derby while in office, in 1969. However, future or former presidents have attended, such as Harry Truman, Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford, George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush, and Donald Trump. According to Bushong, Franklin D. Roosevelt listened on the radio to the 1937 match race between Seabiscuit and War Admiral.
Besides presidents, various cabinet officials have been not only fans of horse racing, but owners and breeders–for example, former Treasury Secretary George Humphrey, U. S. Senator and Secretary of the Treasury Nicholas Brady, and Ambassador to Great Britain William Farish.
This is an interesting article for us in Sweden, where horse racing and betting seems to be much more accepted than in the US!
Greetings from Stockholm and thank you for the article.