So what exactly is Harness Racing?

A modern day version of Ben Hur's chariot races would, I suppose, be the closest comparison! Horses normally race over 1 mile, or sometimes 1¼ miles, on grass or hard tracks, under the control of a driver who is balanced precariously in a 'sulky' (or 'bike') with his (or her!) legs outstretched along the shafts (occasionally races take place 'under saddle', but these are few & far between). Races are normally started behind a mobile 'gate', a vehicle with a wide set of wings mounted on the rear; this 'start car' brings the field of competitors up to speed (around 30mph on the hard tracks, slightly less on grass) as they approach the start line, then accelerates away to allow racing to commence. Four or more horses may line up behind the gate, with the remainder of the field in 'lines' trailing behind according to each horse's handicap rating (e.g. you may hear people refer to a 'gate horse', or a '20 yard horse'). Before being allowed to enter handicapped races, a horse must prove itself by working it's way through the 'maiden', 'novice', 'improver' & 'intermediate' classes.

Top horses will pace a mile in around 2 minutes, with lower grade horses obviously taking a bit longer, and track conditions being taken into consideration. The majority of harness racing horses are 'Standardbreds', a name which derives from the early American stud book, entry to which was conditional on a horse's ability to pace the mile in a 'standard' time (then 2 minutes 30 seconds). There are other breeds which are used in the sport, e.g. the French Trotter, the Russian Orlov, or the Scandinavian Cold-blood, but by far the vast majority of horses seen on track in the UK are Standardbreds.

To confuse matters, there are two distinctly differing gaits seen in the sport; 'pacing' & 'trotting'. Pacers move left front & rear legs in unison, followed by right front & rear - this is known as a 'lateral' gait, while trotters employ a 'diagonal' gait, moving front right with rear left, and vice versa. Pacers are normally distinguished by the use of 'hopples', straps running between front & rear legs which discourage the horse from 'breaking' it's stride (an offence ultimately punishable by disqualification if it is not corrected by the driver). The majority of horses competing in the UK are pacers, the main reason being an average 3 seconds per mile speed advantage, but also because they are less likely to 'break', resulting in better reliability.