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The
first harness races were contested on roads, with men challenging their
friends to see who had the swifter horse pulling his buggy. Even
when racing became more of an organised pastime, the everyday travelling
was the more important side of the horse's performance.
Why
do mile times in harness racing seem so much better
in the US than in Australia? The answer is simple: American tracks are
longer (often a full mile) with wider curves and Australian horses are slowed down by having to go around
tighter curves.
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Great-great-grandad
was a highway hoon, too...
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The
term ‘Standardbred' originated in the late 1870s. In a bid to
improve the breed, the U.S. trotting authority required that only
those horses that could pace or trot a mile in a ‘standard' time of
two and a half minutes or better were eligible for registration. Those
horses bred to that standard became known as Standardbreds.
In
modern racing and breeding, there are more detailed rules about
registered bloodlines.
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The
first breeders
started with the existing Thoroughbred and added Norfolk
Roadster, Hackney, Morgan, Arab and anything else that promised to
achieve the fastest, strongest harness horse with staying power. Being a
horse that was meant mainly as a workaday cart horse and only raced
part-time, the Standardbred needed to be a calm, willing, good
doer with strong hooves - and still is.
The
Standardbred took shape as a breed after 1850 when Hambletonian
started siring all-conquering racers. He carried the genes of Messenger, an English Thoroughbred sire.
Hambletonian became the Standardbred foundation sire, passing on his ability to pace and trot fast to all his
about 1,300 offspring. Today, Hambletonian can be traced in the bloodlines of
nearly all registered Standardbreds.
The first two-minute mile
in harness racing was recorded in 1897 by the pacer Star
Pointer. The horse that popularised pacing was Dan Patch, one of
the fastest and recording 1:55 for the mile, he remains one of the most
popular Standardbreds ever.
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