Harness racing is an incredibly popular spectator sport as it offers something different simply horse racing, and variety is the spice of life. Startling sums of money are bet on harness racing annually, either through bookmakers or the Totaliser Agency Board (TAB). There are ninety one truly official harness racing tracks in Australia and they host something in the region of 1,900 meetings a year.

Harness racing traces its origins back to 30th April 1810 when at Parramatta, New South Wales, the first event was held, this was during a sports carnival. The first officially trotters and pacers race meeting was held in Australia on 21st January 1860 on the dedicated racecourse at Flemington, Victoria. The pinnacle of this event was the trotting race which had 100 sovereigns in the prize purse to be won. Australia’s first ever harness racing club was formed in 1861 and was called the Ballarat and Creswick Trotting Club, and it was formed especially to promote the growing sport of Harness Racing.

Harness racing in Australia is carried out within two different gaits, the first is pacing and the second is trotting. Trotters may enter pacing races but not vice versa, it is thought that on average pacers contest 85% -90% of all Australian harness racing. Harness races proceed anti-clockwise around the track, mainly over distances from 1,600 meters to 2,600 meters. Unlike horse racing, harness racing is administered via Harness Racing Australia (HRA), each state and territories principle racing authority needs to agree to abide by, and enforce the rules and regulations that have been set out by the HRA.

Harness races can be started in two different ways, the first is behind a mobile barrier, this is a mobile start and the barrier is usually a car or ute with two long arms. Races are also started from a standing start behind tape. The mobile barrier method of starting races is the most commonly used method of starting pacing and trotting races in Australia. During the mobile barrier method the gates will swing open and the vehicle, usually a car, moves off and this therefore releases the horses, the barrier usually covers the entire track.

There are several important harness races with one of the longest running being Inter Domination that has been contested since 1936; the competition involves horses from Australia and New Zealand. Other major races include, the Miracle Mile, A G Hunter Cup, Chariots of Fire, Victoria Pacing Championship and Australian Pacing Gold. There is also a specific racing series for juvenile trotters and pacers, the best two, three and four year olds from both Australia and New Zealand compete in the Australasian Breeders Crown. This is widely regarded as the premier juvenile racing series in the Southern Hemisphere.

Harness Racing is one of the most popular spectator sports in Australia and has strong links to betting and the reason behind its popularity perhaps is it offers something different to plain horse racing, resulting in greater variation. There are a number of different race series, with the sport dating back to the early 1800’s, showing how deep-seated this sport is in Australian culture.