Odds On Racing - Harness Racing

Great Britian Cries The Harness Blues
September 29, 2004
By Kimberly Rinker

Racing fans here in North America often hear the cry that harness racing is a secondary sport to Thoroughbred racing. However in France, Italy and Germany last year there were nearly 40,000 Standardbred races and only 15,000 flat races. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for Great Britain, where harness racing takes a back seat to nearly every other type of equestrian endeavor. Read on....

Harness racing in England falls miserably behind flat racing, show jumping, hunting, eventing and anything else horsey on that large island across the Atlantic. Although harness racing has been practiced in England for over 100 years, getting a race "meeting" together is often an arduous adventure for the all, too-few harness enthusiasts.

For instance, in the wind-swept, often cold area of County Durham, folks must rely on the goodwill of a local farmer to loan his field out for a day of a harness racing "meeting."

"There are people who do stage road races, but if we had an all-weather track in the Northeast than there would be no need to do so," Richard Wigham, the press officer of the North Eastern Standardbred Association was quoted as saying. "This sport is very much the poor relation in Britain unlike National Hunt Racing, Polo, and Steeplechase Racing."

Wigham's association was denied a National Lottery grant to build an all-weather track in County Durham, but on the positive side, harenss racing is recognized by Sports England--that country's self-governing sports council. It appears that the Brits are just not as familiar with harness racing as they are with other equestrian disciplines.

In England, harness racing has been practiced widely for well over a century, as evidenced by racetracks at Prestatyn, Manchester and Kendal. These tracks have come and gone for various reasons--usually money--and currently there are five establised circuits in the United Kingdom: in North Wales, South Wales, Scotland, Wolverhampton and York.

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