When it comes to sporting activities in Spain, football and tennis are typically the two that most quickly spring to mind in terms of global domination.

And Spanish racing is generally considered to be of the motor-powered variety – Fernando Alonso and Carlos Sainz Jr just two Spaniards to reach the pinnacle of the sport.

Despite the hot weather and firm ground, Spain does have its own thriving horse racing circuit too – although you’ll need to travel to Madrid to see it first-hand.

Capital Culture

Some of the countries in which horse racing is prominent have more than one focal point for the sport.

The UK has Aintree, home of the Grand National, Royal Ascot and Prestbury Park, home of the annual Cheltenham Festival, to name but three.

The Cheltenham Festival betting tends to be one of the most popular events for bettors in any sport, with races like the Gold Cup – for which Galopin Des Champs is the even money favorite to defend his title in 2024 – attracting most of the interest.

The Cheltenham tips columns are well-read by casual and hardcore followers of the sport, each looking for insight into the 28 races at the meeting.

In the United States, the Triple Crown races – Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes – take place at different venues, with the Breeders’ Cup switching between Del Mar, Keeneland and Santa Anita in recent years.

In Spain, there’s only one major racetrack – the Hipódromo de la Zarzuela, which can be found on the outskirts of Madrid.


Designed in the 1930s, Zarzuela remains a monument to a bygone age of rationalism and retains its Bien de Interes Cultural status to this day.

More importantly, it plays host to the key races on the Spanish schedule – from the Premio Villamejor to the Premio Cimera, as well as the one they all want to win: the Gran Premio de Madrid.

Royal Connection

The most prestigious race ran on Spanish soil, the Gran Premio de Madrid is a 2,500-metre contest for horses aged three and older.

It’s a renewal, won in 2023 by El Caney, that owners and trainers are desperate to qualify for, with the prestige of winning just as sought after as the prize money that the victor takes home.


It’s a race that has some famous connections attached to it too. The 19th Duke of Alburquerque, Juan Miguel Osorio y Beltrán de Lis, is a keen racehorse owner and won the Gran Premio de Madrid in 2014 – his horse, Frine, led to the line in first place by jockey Jeremy Crocquevielle.

Angel Penna, the trainer who would later be inducted into the American Racing Hall of Fame, is a two-time winner of the Gran Premio de Madrid – adding to his haul of majors that also includes the St Leger and 1,000 Guineas in the UK and the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in France.

Two British jockeys, Alan Munro and Richard Hills, were also tempted out to Spain to take rides in the Madrid showpiece. Munro won the UK and Irish versions of the Derby, as well as major races in France, Italy, the United States and Hong Kong, but he’ll no doubt remember his win aboard Akelarre in the 1990 Gran Premio fondly.

This is a horse race with global connections then, but one that remains steeped in Spanish history and heritage.

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR