The Falconeer

Complete your first race. They are all pass / fail no need to do it again after you beat the record time. The first one you can access is at the Imperial Peak during the prologue. The little flame Icon on the map usually represents the middle of the course. You can always come back later after your bird has been replaced and your bird riding as leveled some. It is possible to do on your first mount with no upgrades. You're looking for a flaming beacon on a horizontal curve with flags billlowing below it. The start of the Imperial Peak course is near the top of the tower where you first take control. As you fly under the archway or bonk off the top, the flame will disappear and reappear on the next checkpoint. I found most of these races doable but still pretty frustrating with mandatory "squawk walls" where your bird just can't clear geometry on any sort of a line to get through the checkpoint and tries to bounce into oblivion. Once you have failed a few times you should get familiar with the course and be able to clear it. To get a little extra speed, hold LB on straightaway before pressing left or right, then continue to hold it as long as you don't need to make any sharp turns or banks. The gliding being a little dodgy and geometry being worse, the times are pretty forgiving and I don't think any took me more than 6 tries.
The game frustratingly won't tell you what your best time is only if you passed or failed while you are doing it. There is no indication on the world map if you have completed it or not. You cannot fast travel directly to the races but if not in a mission you can travel near most of them.