Not all Romans were fond of horse-racing. Pliny the Younger expresses his scepticism about the originality of the races, claiming that one viewing was sufficient to satisfy his own interest.

I have been spending all the last few days amongst my notes and papers in most welcome peace. How could I in the city? The races were on, a type of spectacle which has never had the slightest attraction for me. I can find nothing new or different in them; once seen is enough, so it surprises me that so many thousands of adult men should have such a childish passion for watching galloping horses and drivers standing in chariots, over and over again.

Source: Pliny, Epistulae 9.6.1-2, translated by Betty Radice (London: Penguin, 1963).