Harness racing
Harness racing is a form of horse racing in which the horses race at a specific gait. They usually pull a two-wheeled cart called a sulky, spider, or chariot occupied by a driver. In Europe, and less frequently in Australia and New Zealand, races with jockeys riding directly on saddled trotters are also conducted.
Breeds
In North America, harness races are restricted to Standardbred horses, although European racehorses may also be French Trotters or Russian Trotters, or have mixed ancestry with lineages from multiple breeds. Orlov Trotters race separately in Russia. The light cold-blooded Coldblood trotters and Finnhorses race separately in Finland, Norway and Sweden.Standardbreds are so named because in the early years of the Standardbred stud book, only horses who could trot or pace a mile in a standard time of no more than 2 minutes, 30 seconds were admitted to the book. The horses have proportionally shorter legs than Thoroughbreds, and longer bodies. Standardbreds generally have a more placid disposition, due to the admixture of non-Thoroughbred blood in the breed.
The founding sire of today's Standardbred horse was Messenger, a gray Thoroughbred brought to America in 1788 and purchased by Henry Astor, brother of John Jacob Astor. Astor had the horse for two years on Long Island and then sold him to C.W. Van Rantz.
From Messenger came a great-grandson, Hambletonian 10, a horse who gained a wide following for his racing prowess and successful offspring. The lineage of virtually all North American Standardbred race horses can be traced from four of Hambletonian 10's sons.
As of January 1, 2019, Foiled Again is the richest Standardbred horse in the world. Foiled Again retired on January 1, 2019, but the then 15-year-old gelding left an indelible mark in harness racing annals. He compiled a 331/109–70–46 record and earned an all-time record US$7,635,588 in purse money. In one of his last races at Rosecroft Raceway, he beat the then 10 year old career winner of over $600,000, Real Flight.
I'm Themightyquinn is an Australasian champion Standardbred notable for being a three-time Australian Harness Horse of the Year and three-time winner of the Inter Dominion. I'm Themightyquinn won over AUD 4.5 million in its career.
Races
Races can be conducted in two differing gaits: trotting and pacing. The difference is that a trotter moves its legs forward in diagonal pairs, whereas a pacer moves its legs laterally.In continental Europe, races are conducted exclusively among trotters, whereas in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States races are also held for pacers. Pacing races constitute 80% to 90% of the harness races conducted in North America - while the clear majority of harness racing in Australia and New Zealand are also now for pacers, even though the sport is colloquially still known as 'the trots.'
Pacing horses are faster and less likely to break stride. One of the reasons pacers are less likely to break stride is that they often wear hobbles. The pace is a natural gait for these horses, and hobbles are used to maintain the gait at top speed; trotting hobbles are becoming increasingly popular for the same reason.
Most harness races start from behind a motorized starting gate, also known as the mobile barrier. The horses commence pacing or trotting and line up behind a hinged gate mounted on a moving motor vehicle, which then leads them to the starting line. At the line, the wings of the gate are folded up and the vehicle accelerates away from the horses.
Another kind of start is a standing start, where there are tapes or imaginary lines across the track behind which the horses either stand stationary or trot in circles in pairs in a specific pattern to hit the starting line as a group. This enables handicaps to be placed on horses with several tapes, usually with 10 or 20 meters between tapes. Many European – and some Australian and New Zealand – races use a standing start, although this increases the chance of a 'false start' where one or a number of horses commence 'off-stride' and gallop. The race must then be brought back to the starting line for a restart which can cause delays in programming and disrupts betting.
The sulky is a light, two-wheeled cart equipped with bicycle wheels. The driver carries a light whip chiefly used to signal the horse by tapping and to make noise by striking the sulky shaft. There are strict rules as to how and how much the whip may be used; in some jurisdictions, whips are forbidden. For exercising or training, the drivers use what is known as a "jog cart", which is a sulky that is heavier and bulkier than a racing unit.
Racing
Europe
France
The Prix d'Amérique is considered to be the number-one trotting race in the world. It is held annually at the gigantic Vincennes hippodrome in eastern Paris late in January. The purse for the race in 2016 was 1 million euros, with approximately half of that to the winner. The horses are entered in the race based on lifetime earnings, unless they have qualified by performing well in the preceding six qualifying races.Scandinavia and Finland
is "the locomotive" of harness racing in Scandinavia. It is a professional all-year event, even at very high latitudes during the winter.In Sweden there are 33 racing tracks, and in Finland 43. For comparison, there are only three thoroughbred racetracks in Sweden. One of them is a combined thoroughbred and standardbred track, while another is only used once every year. So the only "pure" thoroughbred track in Sweden is Bro Park.
At Solvalla in the suburbs of Stockholm the premier Standardbred mile race is held in late May every year, Elitloppet. Other important annual races are Svenskt travkriterium, a race restricted to three-year-olds, also hosted at Solvalla and Swedish Trotting Derby hosted in September at Jägersro in Malmö. The latter race track also hosts the Hugo Åbergs Memorial, which is an international race open for all horses.
Other important harness racing arenas in Scandinavia are Åby outside Gothenburg, Mantorp, Axevalla, Bergsåker, Boden and Charlottenlund in Danish capital Copenhagen.
A betting game called V75 is the number one game to bet on. The winner of seven races is to be picked. One single "row" is very cheap to play, but people usually play large systems, picking the winner in one or two of the races and several horses in the other races. The price for a system grows rapidly if many horses are picked in a race. Price for one "row" is 1/2 SEK but if, for instance, betting on 2, 5, 1, 7, 7, 1 and 4 horses in the seven races the price multiplies as 0.5 × 2 × 5 × 1 × 7 × 7 × 1 × 4 = 980 SEK. The bettors win money if they get all seven, six or five horses right within the system. But the difference between picking all 7 winners and just five is huge, in terms of money to win.
V75 races are of distances 1640 m, 2140 m, 2640 m and rarely 3140 m. The race track's length most usually is 1000 meters with two long sides and two curves. Horses run counterclockwise. The horses are classified by how much prize money they have gained through the entire career of the horse. The classifications are from the lowest and upwards:
- Class III
- Class II
- Class I
- Bronze division
- Silver division
- Gold division
- There is also a seventh class, for mares only. But mares also belong to one of the other six classifications.
Some races use the mobile starting gate as seen in the United States. Other races use a circular starting system. Horses with post positions 1 to 5 are in the first wave, 6-12 or 15 are in the second wave. In volt start good starting numbers are 1, 3 and 5. But numbers 6 and 7 may get up a better speed after the turn-around but before the starting whistle sounds. Horses may have different initial speed, but must not exceed the starting line before the start signal sounds. Horses number 6 and 7 can both get a better speed at the starting line, and there are no horses in front of them. Due to this number 6 and number 7 are known as "running tracks" at volt starting. Horses 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13, 14, 15 have all horses in front of them. But to get advantage of the "running tracks" the horse must be "a fast starter".
The start of the races and the starting position are indeed important, independent of the start method. A very good horse in a race with weak opponents but with a bad start number may not become the prime favorite due to the bad starting position, especially at short distance.
After the start the drivers fight to get a good running position. How well this succeeds depends on the horse, the starting position and how the opponents drive their horses. Due to the sulky width and the oval race track overtaking is a far more difficult maneuver to achieve, in comparison with gallop racing. The "running position fight" during the start and the beginning of the race usually ends in the first turn. After the initial fight for a good running position, the horses usually form two rows or tracks. Good running positions are the leading position of the inner track or the second place in the outer track. This is explained by the fact that the outer track is close to 15 meters longer per lap, front running is always heavier compared with just follow behind. Positions in the inner track behind the leader may appear the best. But as described before, overtaking is not an easy maneuver. And horses in the inner track may very well be trapped all the way to the finish, due to the horses and sulkies in the outer track. On the other hand, if an opening in the outer track appears close to the finish line, such a horse has had "an easy ride" with much strength left to give.
The leading position of the outer track, also known as the position of "death", is a very hard position to run and only very strong horses can win from this position. If a horse completes the race from the "death" position, commentators often point that out when announcing the KM pace of the horse.
On short distances, the horse that gets the leading position of the inner track has a very good chance to be the winner. At longer races running positions like second or third in the outer track have good chances, especially if the inner track horses get trapped behind a weakening front horse.
Though all kind of trot betting in terms of money, is the most popular type of betting in Sweden, attendances at the races do not correspond to this. Even when "the V75 circuit comes to town" attendance rarely exceeds 5000 people. Larger crowds only gather at the biggest races. Trot racing as a sport is often considered dull, but when combined with betting it can rapidly get interesting. The huge popularity of trot betting in Sweden "spills over" to the neighboring Norway, Finland and Denmark.