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There is a programme or races held at Kagithane
in Istanbul in 1863, and racing programmes for
the republican period dating back to 1927. Other
ephemera connected with horse racing are tickets
and betting cards, of which the earliest date
from the 1940s. On stands in the centre of the
hall are equestrian figures made of glass and
pottery presented at the 11th and 21st Asian
Racing Conferences, and vases decorated with
equestrian designs. In the small room next to
the hall are displayed the cups, shields and
plaques presented to the Turkish Jockey Club
since 1954, examples of pedigrees, vaccination
certificates and other documentation for thoroughbred
horses. In another section devoted to the horses
themselves you discover that a horse has 252
different bones in its skeleton, and 520 muscles;
that its brain and heart weigh 500 grams and
3.5-5 kilogrammes respectively; that the average
lifespan is 20-26 years; and gestation period
320-350 days. In the same section we learn that
the world's longest lived horse was Old Billy,
an American horse who lived from 1758 until
1822.
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