Established in 1960 as the Asian Racing Conference, it changed its name to Asian Racing Federation in 2001.
The Federation meets every 12 to 18 months.
A central Secretariat and an Executive Council was established in 1992. The Secretariat is currently based in Australia and the Executive Council meets once or twice a year in Paris in October and either in Hong Kong or in Dubai in between.
Widley viewed as having created an international cartel due to its endorsement of the Good Neighbour Policy in 2003 in an effort to defend themselves from competition from commercial bookmakers and bet exchanges so as to maintain higher profits for themselves.