Beginners Guide to Harness Racing in Wales
| Introduction | Horses | Driver | Equipment | Spectating | Handicap | Race | All Clear |
Introduction
Harness racing is a exhilarating sport where horse and driver act in unison to pit their wits against the opposition to see which pairing comes out on top! Meanwhile the spectator gets within meters of all the thrills and spills and with a bit of luck may even finish the race better off having beaten the bookies!! Read on for your beginners guide to harness racing in Wales- but remember nothing beats the real thing so why not go along to a meeting near you!
Horses
UK harness racing horses are 'Standardbreds'. The name "Standardbred" originated because the early horses were required to reach a certain standard for the mile distance in order to be registered as part of the new breed. There are two types of standardbred seen racing with Wales & Borders - differentiated by their 'gait' or leg movement style:
- The 'pacer' moves the legs on the same side back and forward together.- this is known as a 'lateral gait' .
- Alternatively the trotter employs a 'diagonal gait' moving front right with rear left leg, and vice versa.
The Driver
Harness racing is one of few sports where men and women compete on a evening footing. Past results only go to prove this. An experienced driver can make all the difference between a horse winning or losing. They are expert planners who know just when to push their horse forward. They also have an innate ability of manoeuvring their horse into prime position for the run up to the line.
It is debatable whether driver weight makes any difference to the result, however it can be noted that some of the leading drivers seem to be on the small and light side.
The Equipment
The Sulky or carriage on which the driver (or jockey) sits on is one of the most important pieces of equipment for harness racing. The driver balances on the sulky with legs along the shafts to maintain equilibrium. The design of the sulky combined with the way the driver sits on it ensures optimum performance with surprisingly little handicap to the horses performance. Sulky design and price varies and they can become very expensive, modern day sulkies only weigh around 40lbs!
The driver wears a variety of safety equipment including a body protector and helmet. They also wear their individual unique 'racing colours' so they can easily be distinguished during the race and, in most races, carry a whip.
The horses have various pieces of equipment for as shown below:
Spectator Participation
The spectators are generally very close to the action and can see all the way around the track. Meetings have on site book makers where the public can pit their wit or just take a chance with lady luck to make a profit. Betting proves only to add to the excitement of a race. A shrewd 'punter' might consider the horses positions in previous races as well as their race time. The impact of driver should also be taking into account. The 'draw' will also have some bearing. The horse drawn in pole position will start on the gate right on the inside of the track, the horse drawn two will start outside the pole position horse and so on. The lower the horses draw the better. See also handicap system below for how a horse is penalised when it wins.
Handicap System
A horse starts racing in the Nursery Class. Within this class there is no prize money and there is no gambling on these races - they are just to practise and gain experience.
When the owners consider that the horse is experienced enough, it goes into the BABY NOVICE. It must win 3 baby novice races before it can go into the NOVICE class. With every baby novice race that it wins, it goes back 10yds on the handicap. So if you see a horse in the Baby Novice class which trails 20yds, that means that it has won 2 races and needs to win one more before it can move up.
Then it must win 3 novice finals, or straightraces if there aren't enough horses that day to make a final (a final is a race between the winners of each 'heat'), or saddle races, or 6 furlong races. Each of these races will move the horse back 10yds.
After this it moves into the GRADE B. To move up from the grade B into the grade A it must either win over £1000 in one year, or it must: win £250 (it now trails 10 yds) then before it loses 5 races, it must win another £250 (trails 20yds), then it must win another £250 and it will move up if, for example, it is trailing 20yds and it loses 5 races, it drops down to 10 yds again.
Horses cannot drop down a grade, eg. from the novice to the baby novice. However in some cases they will be allowed to drop from the Grade As into the Bs. This doesn't happen very often though.
The Race
Races are generally started in a rolling manner - horses line up behind a mobile 'gate' which brings the competitors up to speed (around 30mph) then accelerates away on the start line to allow racing to commence.
Race distance is usually around 1 mile or sometimes 1¼ miles on both hard and grass tracks around Wales & the borders. Tracks are oval in shape to allow spectators a good view and enable drivers to pit their wits tactically.
On average horses complete the mile in little over 2 minutes, hard tracks produce faster times than their grass equivalents. The very top horses come close to the 2 minute mark. The current UK mile record is held by 'Stoneriggs JR' at 1'55.7 - this however was on a hard track - most Wales & Borders races are held on grass producing slower times.
All Clear
As the winner and placed horses complete the race and the distances between the placings are referred to in the following terms - short head, neck, length and number of lengths. Each relate to the distance (measured in parts of the horse) between the winner and the subsequent horses completing the race. There may be times when a camera has to be used on close finishes. On occasions a 'dead heat' is declared when horses can not be split on the line. Those with skill or luck (or both!!) can go and collect their winnings once the 'all clear' has been announced. This means there are no steward enquiries and the result is declared.