Bush track

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Bush track is a term used in horse racing to describe unsanctioned, informal horse races run in rural areas of the United States and southern Canada. Quarter horses, ridden by amateur jockeys, are raced on makeshift tracks, often set up in the field where the horses are pastured using barrels or other natural landmarks as the track interior. Race times are never kept and the track length is not uniform.

Some of these tracks were somewhat more formal, with names and a regular following (though seldom more than 1000 would show for a race). Races are often run with only two horses on a track with lanes. The state of Louisiana is notable for having produced top jockeys who got their start in this setting.

Jockeys who started in the Bush Tracks:^[1]

• Robby Albarado
• Calvin Borel
• Eddie Delahoussaye
• Kent Desormeaux
• Eric Guerin
• Mark Guidry
• Jim Hartley
• Craig Perret
• Red Pollard
• Randy Romero
• Shane Sellers
• Carroll H. Shilling
• Joseph Talamo

[edit] References

1. ^ Street Sense the "local boy" wins the Kentucky Derby. Retrieved on 2007-05-07.

• Carroll H. Shilling and bush track career at the United States National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame
• March 9, 1997 New York Times article titled Love of Racing Grows in the Bushes