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Harness Racing - An Historical Perspective
| Harness racing represents a form of horse-racing in which the horses race at a specified speed. They regularly drag two-wheeled sulkies, which are a kind of cart with two wheels.nnThe most thriving game of sport in the years preceding the Civil War was Harness racing. After the management of the Thoroughbred, racing was no longer in the hands of the South. Northern horseman desired to take control, but a depressed breeding market, a lack of strong jockey clubs to regulate the sport and an absence of promoters who could put together good races, kept the track in the doldrums. In 1850 there were more spectators who watched harness racing than all other races.nnThese harness races were limited mostly to standard bred horses. Cold-blooded horses, so named because of a stable, calm temperament, raced alongside European horses which commonly have either Russian or French descendents. Standardbreds are so named because in the early years of the Standardbred stud book, only horses who could run or pace a mile in standard time, or whose brood could do so, were entered into the book.nnThe Standardbreds usually have shorter legs than the Thoroughbreds. Instead they have longer bodies. Also, they are of a more obedient spirit. That suits horses whose race takes more strategy and a lot more acceleration than the Thoroughbred races.nnMessenger was the name of the first of Standardbreed horse. It was a gray pure-bred that was brought to America around 1788 and acquired by Henry Astor, John Jacob Astor's brother. From this particular horse descended a great-grandson, Hambletonian 10. It received extraordinary appreciation for its racing ability. Nevertheless, it is his breed line for which he is most remembered. The lineage of almost every American Standardbred horses can be followed from his sons.nnThe races can be split into two different steps: trotting and pacing. The difference is that the trotter tends to move its legs onwards in oblique pairs, while a pacer moves its legs to one side.nnIn Europe all races are conducted between trotters, but in Canada, New Zealand, Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom races are also conducted for pacers.nnThe pacing races relate to almost 90% of Harness racing performed in North America. They are quicker and, most noteworthy to the bettor, much less likely to falter pace (a horse that begins to run needs to be slowed down or taken outside in hope of regaining speed). An explanation for pacers being less likely to break stride is that they regularly wear hopples or hobbles, which are straps that fix the legs to the horse's sides.nnThere is an opinion that hopples are meant to produce this type of gait. That is wrong, the hopples are merely an accessory to hold up the pace while gaining top speed. |
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