Flat racing is a British term and is used to differentiate between races over jumps (steeplechases) and races over flat ground. The disciplines differ slightly in the UK to the United States. In the UK the races are usually between 5 furlongs (1km) and 3.2km in length. The horses are held in stalls to make sure all the horses set off at the same time. When the stalls open it is a straight sprint to the finish. Depending on which stall the horse is in at some courses this can be advantage or disadvantage due to the shape of, or undulations in the course. In the UK race tracks a usually oval with a run off . There is no standard size and many contain hills and undulations for the horses to negotiate. The vast majority of races run in the UK are on grass tracks and because of this there is usually a few days break between race meetings in order for the track to recover as galloping horses can dig up the turf. Conditions are sometimes put on races such as age restrictions on the horses but this is not as common as in the US.

In the US the terms Horse Racing and Thoroughbred racing usually refer to flat racing as there is no racing over jumps. They are run over distances of 6 furlongs (1.2 km) to 12 furlongs (2.4km). The race track is usually a flat dirt oval 1 mile in length with a 7/8 th of a mile grass track inside the dirt one. The dirt track allows races to be held over several days as they don't deteriorate in the same way grass tracks do.

The horses in a race are paired to try and obtain parity. Their age, sex and apparent ability are all taken into account by the racing secretary so that races will be competitive.