Young Races

The Young Harness Racing Club was established in 1954 and was built and run by voluntary community members since that time. It was one of the first NSW country races, along with the Parkes Harness Racing Club, to introduce night racing. In 1983 the racing at Young changed from being clockwise to anticlockwise. The introduction of TAB racing, which meant that people all over Australia could follow the action at Young and place their bets, has been a great boost to harness racing in Young since the 1990’s. Online betting has also meant that all the information that you need to follow the Young races is at your fingertips and rather than making the trek out to Young, you can enjoy it all from the comfort of your own home.

Harness Racing in Australia

Harness racing in Australia holds one of its main attractions in the fact that it is raced at night, unlike thoroughbred racing which is raced only in the day. In harness racing the horses race in a specified gait, either trotting or pacing, and usually pull a two wheeled sulky on which the driver sits. Trotting involves the horse moving the front right and left hind legs together, and then the right front and left hind legs, whereas pacing involves both the right front and back legs moving together and then the left front and back legs. The effect of pacing is smoother and faster, and this gait is popular in Australia and the US, whereas in Europe harness racing is exclusively for trotters. Pacing also holds the advantage that these horses are less likely to break stride and start galloping – because when this happens the horses are removed to the side of the race until they regain their stride.

Harness racing horses are usually Standardbred, and they have shorter legs and longer bodies than Thoroughbreds. They tend to be more even-tempered than Thoroughbreds as well, which makes then better suited to the strategic racing of harness racing, rather than the sheer speed of Thoroughbreds. The founding father of most of the current Standardbred horses was Messenger, who was brought to America in 1788. From his line came the great racer Hambletonian 10 and so the line continued until the present day.

Harness races start from either a starting gate or a standing start and the sulkies are extremely light carts ridden by a driver. The races involve considerable strategy, involving adjustments in speed to either gain the lead early or wait until the end to come in fast. The sulkies make it easy to get boxed in by other horses, so drivers try to avoid this by either heading to the front or pulling back. The drivers jostle for positions, with the best being along the rain behind the leader and the worst being the horse behind him on the rails. As the race opens up, the drivers assess the field and find the best position to advance through the pack -either around the side or through a gap up the middle.

In Australia the metric system is used, so rather than being one mile races, they tend to be 1700, 2100 or 2480 meters. Australian harness racing has up to 13 horses in each race, which means as the final bell sounds the last lap the horses often form three lines.

Harness Racing in Young

Often known as the “heart of harness racing”, the Young races are much loved by punters, owners, trainers and drivers alike. During the harness racing meetings all owners, trainers and drivers are provided with complimentary accommodation by the hospitable Young community. Young races are also loved as a great weekend away in the picturesque rural setting surrounded by cherry orchards, sheep and wheat fields. One of the feature events at Young is the Cherry Festival Cup which has been held for 30 years in November. The harness race during the Cherry Festival is just part of the festivity that involves the whole town and thousands of visitors arrive to celebrate the cherry harvest.

The Young Harness Racing Track has a surface of crushed rock, a circumference of 787 metres and a home straight of 183.86 metres. It offers tight turns and exciting racing for all punters to follow.

So when you are thinking of Harness Racing don’t dismiss the country races like Young, which offer just as much excitement and high quality racing. With online betting you can follow harness races all over Australia every Friday and Saturday night wherever they are being run with all the information you need to make the best punt right at your fingertips. Why leave home?