Harness racing in Australia has made the great transition from being an outdated sport to hosting some of the exciting, heart stopping and spectacular races in the country. A total of 91 tracks around the country account for over 1,900 meetings annually including the famous Harold Park in NSW, Albion Park in Queensland, Globe Derby Park in Adelaide, Gloucester Park in Perth and Moonee Valley in Melbourne.
Although race tracks will host meetings each week, the Australian Harness Racing industry gathers several times during the year to compete in Australia’s major harness racing events. The Australasian Breeders Crown is the premier juvenile harness racing series in the Southern Hemisphere and features the best two, three and four year old trotters and pacers for the year from both Australia and New Zealand. The ultimate goal for these young runners is the grand final Breeders Crown Super Sunday worth more than $1.5 million in prize money.
The SEW Eurodrive Victoria Cup is one of the leading events in Australia which celebrates harness racing. Worth $400,000 it is Victoria’s best harness race and will attract a huge number of champion harness horses for two nights of fast paced track action.
Possibly the biggest and most famous race in Australia is the Watpac Inter Dominion. Featuring eight qualifying heats and a $1 million final race, the Inter Dominion encourages middle distance events rather than sprint racing. Held yearly at various locations in Australia and New Zealand, the Inter Dominion has separate categories for pacers and trotters and is definitely an event not to be missed!
In Australia there are over 2,900 drivers and 4,000 trainers with the number of Standardbred horses foaled each year equalling to around five thousand. Although these figures have slightly decreased, the industry is still producing a mass of money with over 98 million dollars staked on Australian Harness Racing each year. As always, Victoria still has the biggest following of harness racing enthusiasts with over $30 million staked on the races in one year.
Separated into Metropolitan and Country races, events are categorised into Group One, Two and Three races (Group One being the most elite) and then by a horse’s age. Once a horse turns five years old, they are put into the Open category which includes all horses aged five years old and up. Apart from these categories, specific races are also held for mares, fillies, colts and geldings and there is also the Barastoc Grand Circuit Series.
The greatest Australian Harness Racing horse is definitely Cane Smoke which was sired by Smart Lobell (USA) out of Hondo Marie. This gelding won a total of 120 wins, with 34 of those recorded in a single season. It is obvious that males tend to dominate the races as the second best horse was the colt Paleface Adios with a total of 108 wins. The filly Scotch Notch followed with 67 wins during her career as a trotter.
