1145 – Ibn ʿUmar (may Allah be pleased with them both) reported: “The Prophet ﷺ raced horses and gave the mature ones precedence at the ghāyah (finish line).” It was narrated by Ahmad and Abū Dāwūd, and Ibn Ḥibbān declared it authentic. (1)

Degree of authenticity:
The ḥadīth is ṣaḥīḥ (sound).
Ibn ʿAbd al-Hādī said: “Its chain is sound.”
Al-Shawkānī noted: “Abū Dāwūd and al-Mundhirī did not comment on it, Ibn Ḥibbān graded it ṣaḥīḥ, and al-Tirmidhī judged it ḥasan.”

Vocabulary:
– sābaqa: from musābaqah (racing), a contest in which two participants vie with one another; the Form III verb indicates reciprocity. This is the wording found in the two Ṣaḥīḥs. Shaykh Muḥammad Amīn Kutbī read it “sābaqa al-khayl” (with an alif, Form III). In some copies of Bulūgh and Sabil al-Salām, as well as the Indian and Egyptian editions, it appears as “sabbqa” (with a doubled bāʾ), meaning “he awarded the prize to the winner.”
– al-qurraḥ: the plural of qāriḥ—horses whose tooth following the lateral incisor has fallen out and been replaced, a stage reached after the fifth year.
– “He gave the mature horses precedence”: he set their finish line farther away because of their greater strength and endurance.