The Standardbred is an American horse breed best known for its ability in harness racing, where members of the breed compete at either a trot or pace. Developed in North America, the Standardbred is recognized worldwide, and the breed can trace its bloodlines to 18th-century England. They are solid, well-built horses with good dispositions. In addition to harness racing, the Standardbred is used for a variety of equestrian activities, including horse shows and pleasure riding, particularly in the Midwestern and Eastern United States and in Southern Ontario.
The Great Northern Derby is a harness racing event for 3 year old standardbreds. It is a major event for 3 year old colts and geldings in New Zealand. It is run at Alexandra Park in Auckland, on the same night as the Auckland Cup in early March. The stake of $400,000 is the richest for 3-year-olds in Australasia.
Harness racing, also colloquially known as trotting or the trots, is a spectator sport in Australia, with significant amounts of money wagered annually with bookmakers and the Totalisator Agency Board (TAB). In Australia there are 90 harness racing tracks, which hold over 1,900 meetings annually. There are approximately 2,900 drivers and 4,000 trainers with about 5,000 Standardbred horses foaled and registered each year.
Maori's Idol was an Australian Standardbred racehorse. He was the first Australian trotter to break two minutes with a time of 1:59.3 on 19 November 1977 at Moonee Valley. Maori's Idol became one of Australia's greatest trotters, with a record 24 successive race victories before being placed third in the 1978 Melbourne Inter-Dominion Final. He is still the trotting record holder with 22 wins in a season. He was superior to his rivals. He could have gone through his career unbeaten had he been placed to advantage by his connections.
Breed = Standartbred , Sire = Andover Hall , Grandsire = Garland Lobell , Sex = Stallion , Foaled = 2004 , Country = United States.
Somebeachsomewhere (2005–2018) was a Standardbred Race Horse who, as a three-year-old, tied the world record for a mile at The Red Mile with a time of 1:46.4 and earned $3,221,299. In 2008, he had the highest earnings by a pacer in a single season of $2,448,003.
Christian Cullen is a Standardbred stallion and was one of New Zealand's best pacers. Named after the New Zealand international rugby union player, Christian Cullen, he won 22 of his 31 starts, and $NZ1,249,150 in prize money. He is notable in that he won both the Auckland Pacing Cup and New Zealand Trotting Cup races, the richest harness races in New Zealand. A powerful and impressive stallion, he has been particularly successful at stud.
Flashing Red is a brown Australia bred Standardbred racehorse that was foaled in 1997. He is notable in that he won both the Auckland Pacing Cup and two New Zealand Trotting Cups. These races are the richest harness races in New Zealand. He was victorious in every harness racing state of Australia and New Zealand and earned over $2,000,000 during his racing career.
Johnny Globe was an outstanding New Zealand bred Standardbred pacer that held four world records. He is notable in that he won the New Zealand Trotting Cup. Johnny Globe is also notable in winning 15 free for all pacing events, which at the time was a record. He was also a leading New Zealand sire on four occasions.
Muscle Hill is a trotting stallion, by super sire Muscles Yankee, who won a Breeders Crown race in 2008 and 2009. He is driven by Brian Sears and trained by Greg Peck.
Changeover is a New Zealand Standardbred racehorse and stud stallion.
Gammalite was an Australian bred Standardbred racehorse who was the first Standardbred to win A$1 million in Australia. He was regarded as one of Australia's most successful pacers with 16 Group one wins. He won the Inter Dominion Championship twice and was inducted into the Inter Dominion Hall of Fame.
Cam's Card Shark (1991-2020) is an American champion standardbred horse. His sire (father) was Cam Fella, who earned more than $2 million during his racing career, and his dam (mother) was Jef's Magic Trick, who only earned $28,340 during her career. He was named the 1994 American Horse of the Year by the United States Trotting Association and held the then-record of most money earned by a Standardbred horse in a single year. During his two years of competition until his retirement in 1994, Cam's Card Shark had 20 wins, earning more than $2.4 million.
Terror To Love is a New Zealand standardbred racehorse. He is best known for being a three-time winner of the New Zealand Trotting Cup, in 2011, 2012 and 2013. He was trained by Graham and Paul Court.
Dan Gernatt Farms is a dairy farming, and horse breeding and racing enterprise, located in the Western New York town of Collins. Daniel R. Gernatt, Sr. and Flavia C. (Schmitz) Gernatt co-owned and established Dan Gernatt Farms in 1938. They built up their farming business, being recognized in the 1950s as having the largest milking dairy herd in Erie County.
Heather Vitale is a television journalist for the sport of Standardbred horse racing.
The Dan Patch Award is an annual award created in 1985 by members of the United States Harness Writers Association (USHWA). The Association's website states that their members' determination is aided by input from the American Harness Racing Secretaries plus logistic expertise provided by the United States Trotting Association.
Sweet Lou is a retired Standardbred Champion Pacing Stallion in the sport of harness racing. He was sired by Yankee Cruiser and out of the mare Sweet Future. In a two-year-old season in which Sweet Lou won ten of his twelve starts, he capped it off with a 7½ length win in the Breeders Crown 2YO Colt & Gelding Pace in a World Record time of 1:49 flat for the mile. He was voted the 2011 American Champion Two-Year-Old Male Pacer. He went on to a highly successful career in racing and added the 2014 American Champion Male Pacer and American Pacer of the Year awards to his résumé. Sweet Lou is the only horse in history to win six straight mile races in times faster than 1:48.
Lazarus is a former champion New Zealand Standardbred race-horse and is now a stud stallion.
Bulldog Hanover is a retired champion Canadian Standardbred racehorse who is known for becoming the first harness horse to complete a mile in under 1:46. He was also the first horse to be unanimously selected as the Dan Patch Horse of the Year. He has been likened to legends Somebeachsomewhere and Niatross and is considered to be among the best harness horses of all time. Bulldog Hanover was inducted into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame in 2023.
