Thank you, much appreciated! I was thinking about this the other day and I wonder if it isn’t as popular due to association with the travelling Gypsy community here? Appleby Horse Fair for example is what a lot of people think of when it comes to harness racing, even though a majority of horses who go through there are cobs not STBs. There’s a permanent Gypsy site set up near where I used to work, they are forever racing their STBs down the main (65mph!) road, three in a line whilst dodging commercial delivery trucks, it’s terrifying!Miss Woodford wrote: ↑Thu Jan 04, 2024 2:25 amThe USTA fan guide is a good place to start http://fanguide.ustrotting.com/Le Beau Bai wrote: ↑Wed Jan 03, 2024 8:02 pm Could someone point me in the direction of good websites or books to learn about harness racing please?
I’ve started watching it more these days, thank you track livestreams, so I’d like to build my knowledge around from a fan perspective. Things like equipment, bloodlines and training practices.
I wish we had harness racing in the UK, there are some meetings but they are very far from me and it’s not at a professional level as such.
Pennsylvania's racing association has a very good page also https://pennhorseracing.com/learn-basic ... formation/
You'd be surprised at the level of harness racing in the UK and Ireland. The Vincent Delaney Memorial is a fairly big deal - it's being held at Wolverhampton this year https://vincentdelaneymemorial.com/ UK drivers come over for international amateur competitions. There have been a number of British-bred (suffix "GB" to their name) and Irish-bred (suffix "IR" to their name) Standardbreds imported to the US that have won races. Interestingly, the UK and Ireland seem to have more pinto/skewbald STBs, who are always popular when they show up on these shores.
I will check out about the race at Wolverhampton, that’s just over two hours from me in the car, so definitely possible for a day trip!