Harness racing in Australia
The Australasian Pacers Grand Circuit is a Group One (G1) event that was designed to be the showpiece of the Australian and New Zealand Harness Racing Industry.
[5] The premier juvenile harness racing series in the Southern Hemisphere is the Australasian Breeders Crown for the best two-, three- and four-year-old trotters and pacers from Australia and New Zealand.
[1] Trotting races commenced on 30 April 1810 at Parramatta, New South Wales, when the first event was held during a sports carnival and was won by Miss Kitty by the imported (Old) Hector, an Arabian stallion that was used for breeding Thoroughbreds.
The first organised race meeting for trotters and pacers in Australia was held 21 January 1860 on the racecourse at Flemington, Victoria.
The same year Queensland's first trotting race was arranged by the Brisbane Driving Park Club and held at Eagle Farm.
Further introductions of night trotting on floodlit tracks led to an increase in attendances and the development of a major racing industry.
In fact S.A Trotting then gave a lot of money to charity as exemplified by giving the Government seven thousand pounds over a short period of time to help replace the ill-fated HMAS Sydney.
[11] In front of Saturday Afternoon crowds of over 25,000 spectators[12] one of the most successful South Australian trainer/reinsmen during this halcyon period was Brooklyn Park horseman Malcolm Allan.
A mobile barrier was first used at Harold Park, New South Wales track on 2 November 1956 in a mile race won by Mineral Spring in 2:01.2.
The prototype hydraulically operated mobile barrier was introduced into NSW in 1963 by William (Bill) George Smith, a Sydney motor body builder who had a passion for harness racing and wanted to make it more exciting for the public and punters.
'Late in 1966 The New South Wales Trotting club Ltd and H O & W D Wills promoted a new feature race call the Craven Filter Miracle Mile'.
The first Miracle Mile was held at Harold Park in 1967 and the New Zealand mare Robyn Dundee won by breaking the two minute barrier at 1:59.
[15] Harness racing became a popular sport as few people could afford the expense of a hack, let alone a Thoroughbred racehorse, whereas most families had a horse which could be driven as well as ridden.
[8] Sir William Don an inbred Thoroughbred gelding bred by Mr. Mackenzie in 1856 near the Murrumbidgee River became the 13th fastest pacer in the harness racing world.
This gelding was able to maintain a good speed while racing free-legged, i.e. unhoppled, and was the best Australian bred harness horse up until the 1870s.
Dual-gaited U Scott (USA) was exported to New Zealand in 1935 as a two-year-old, where he became the outstanding sire of 410 winners of $2,315,503 and his name features prominently in the bloodlines of many of Australasia's greatest horses.
[8] On 13 February 1960 at Harold Park Caduceus from New Zealand defeated Australia's Apmat by half a length in the final of the Inter Dominion before a world record crowd of 50,346.
[22] In 1963 Cardigan Bay from New Zealand, one of the truly great Standardbred racehorses, won the Inter Dominion Pacing Championship final in Adelaide before going to America.
[23] His owners later accepted an American offer of $300,000, at that time the highest price paid for an Australian horse – Standardbred or Thoroughbred.
Mount Eden was unraced in America owing to injury and retired to stud there but he was poorly patronized and returned to Western Australia.
[8] The Australian pacing horse with the most race wins is Cane Smoke, by Smart Lobell (USA) out of Hondo Marie.
[27] Our Sir Vancelot (NZ) was the first horse to win three successive Inter Dominion Pacing Championships, during 1997-98-99 and also numerous Grand Circuit and Group One events.
[28] Blacks A Fake won the 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2010 Inter Dominion Championships, making him the only four-time winner of Australasia's premier harness race and the world's highest prizemoney winning pacer.
[29] Our Waikiki Beach ended a run on 19 consecutive wins on July 5, 2016 at TABcorp Park Menangle when he was beaten by Ideal Situation in a mile-rate of 1:52.8.
Australia was one of the last harness racing and Standardbred breeding countries to adopt Artificial Insemination (AI) as a legitimate means of equine reproduction.
New South Wales' premier track and metropolitan headquarters used to be at Harold Park Paceway, located at Glebe in Sydney until it was sold for over $150 million.
On 17 December 2010 the last race meeting was held at Harold Park Paceway with Karloo Mick winning the final event.
The Gold Coast track closed in late 2013 to make way for Commonwealth Games facilities; the Club is still in abeyance at 2016.
Victorian harness racing meetings are usually held seven days a week, with major provincial tracks including Mildura, Cranbourne, Bendigo, Ballarat, Kilmore, Shepparton and Swan Hill.
