[5] Ban'ei racing has its probable origin in agricultural work, when horses were used to pull farming machinery and sleds of wood.

Eventually, the horses were tested for speed and strength in festivals of the late Meiji Era (c.1900).

[6] The popularity grew; in 1953, Hokkaido's four cities (Kitami, Asahikawa, Iwamizawa, and Obihiro) began to manage races.

The Obihiro racecourse nearly closed in 2006 before Softbank, a Japanese mobile phone company, provided funds for the races to continue.

[8] Odds Park Cup race, named after the internet-betting subsidiary of Softbank, was established in 2007 as an expression of gratitude.

[13] The ban'ei course consists of a 200 metres (660 ft) dirt track with lanes separated by ropes laid in the sand.

[14] Horses are often deliberately stopped after the first obstacle, and given a chance to rest before being ushered to climb the second.

[16][17] With suitable ground conditions, horses pulling lightly loaded sleds can clock speeds under 50 seconds.

[23][24] Most ban'ei horses start official racing as two-year-olds after passing inspection held between April and August.

[8] At the close of every fiscal year during the end of March, prolific retiring racehorses are honoured at their own ceremony.

Open studbook policy has led to pinto (piebald) pattern; one female family[44] used in ban'ei can be traced to single stallion born in 1967,[45] while dominant white seen in two horses was spontaneous, manifesting in 2010.