Jockeys and their colors. For many owners, the selection process of the jockey colors is the most exciting part of the pre-race process. The jockey color system has a long history. Even though chariot drawn races in Rome might have been the first to do this, the most popular origin story comes from England in the 1700s. With horse racing becoming more popular, races had more entrants leading to confusion from jockeys donning duplicate colors. Further complaints emerged when jockeys changed their colors often, creating further confusion among the spectators. In 1762, the English Jockey Club at Newmarket requested that the owners submit specific colors for their jackets and caps, and the rest, as they say, is history. In modern-day American racing, these colors are generally not regulated, but each state and sometimes each race, have special registration processes. For instance, racing in New York requires one to register at the Jockey Club, which has been registering these colored jockey shirts and corresponding helmets, for over 100 years. Once a color has been registered, the specific color cannot be used by anyone else. No two jockeys can have the same design, so if an owner has more than one horse in a race, the jockeys must have different colors.