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 Little Brown Jug is a harness race for three-year-old pacing standardbred horses hosted by the Delaware County Agricultural Society since 1946 at the Delaware County Fairgrounds racetrack in Delaware, Ohio. The race takes place every year on the third Thursday after Labor Day.
Bret Hanover was an outstanding American Standardbred racehorse. He was one of only nine pacers to win harness racing's Triple Crown of Harness Racing for Pacers and won 62 of 68 starts. He was the first horse to be voted United States Harness Horse of the Year three times and remains the only pacer to have received that honor.
Triple Crown is a combination of three major races in harness racing. The term Triple Crown is mostly used in the US, but also in France. The term is also used in thoroughbred racing.
Albatross (1968–1998) was a bay Standardbred horse by Meadow Skipper. He was voted United States Harness Horse of the Year in 1971 and 1972. Albatross won 59 of 71 starts, including the Cane Pace and Messenger Stakes in 1971, earned $1,201,477. It was, however, as a sire that he really made his mark. Albatross's 2,546 sons and daughters won $130,700,280.
Cam Fella was a bay pacing horse by Most Happy Fella out of Nan Cam by Bret Hanover. He was trained and driven originally by Doug Arthur and later by Pat Crowe. His best time for the mile was 1:53.1. Cam Fella was purchased as a 2-year-old by the two Norms, Norm Clements and Norm Faulkner. He earned the nickname "The Pacing Machine" in a career wherein he became the richest standardbred of all time.
The Hambletonian Stakes is a major American harness race for three-year-old trotting horses, named in honor of Hambletonian 10, a foundation sire of the Standardbred horse breed, also known as the "Father of the American Trotter." The first in the Triple Crown of Harness Racing for Trotters, the Hambletonian is currently held at the Meadowlands Racetrack in East Rutherford, New Jersey, on the first Saturday in August.
The Cane Pace is a harness horse race for standardbred pacers run annually since 1955. The race was first run as the William H. Cane Futurity in 1955 at Yonkers Raceway in New York. In 1956 the race joined with the Little Brown Jug and the Messenger Stakes to become the first leg in the Triple Crown of Harness Racing for Pacers.
The Messenger Stakes is an American harness racing event for 3-year-old pacing horses. It was organized in 1956 at Roosevelt Raceway in Westbury, New York to join with the Cane Pace and the Little Brown Jug to create the Triple Crown of Harness Racing for Pacers. The race is named in honor of Messenger (1780–1808), a horse foaled in England and later brought to the United States. As a sire, virtually all harness horses in the U.S. can be traced back to Messenger.
Yonkers Raceway & Empire City Casino, founded in 1899 as the Empire City Race Track, is a one-half-mile standardbred harness racing dirt track and slots racino located at the intersection of Central Park Avenue and Yonkers Avenue in Yonkers, New York, near the New York City border. It is owned by Vici Properties and operated by MGM Resorts International.
Mack Lobell (1984–2016) was a brown racing trotter by Mystic Park out of Matina Hanover by Speedy Count.
William Robert (Billy) Haughton was an American harness driver and trainer. He was one of only three drivers to win the Hambletonian four times, the only one to win the Little Brown Jug five times, and the only one to win the Messenger Stakes seven times. With a career record of 4,910 wins and about $40 million in earnings, he was first in annual winnings 12 times – 1952–59, 1963, 1965, 1967, and 1968 – and in heats won from 1953 to 1958.
Freehold Raceway is a half-mile racetrack in Freehold Borough, New Jersey, and is the oldest racetrack in the United States. Horseraces have been taking place at Freehold Raceway since the 1830s. The Monmouth County Agricultural Society was formed on December 17, 1853, and in 1854 they began holding an annual fair with harness racing at Freehold Raceway
Keystone Ore was an American standardbred horse, who was the son of Bye Bye Bird. He was trained and driven by Stanley Dancer, and was honored as United States Harness Horse of the Year in 1976.
Most Happy Fella (1967–1983) was a bay Standardbred horse by Meadow Skipper. He was voted Pacer of the Year in the United States in 1970 when he won the Triple Crown of Harness Racing for Pacers.
Bruce Nickells is an American harness racing driver and trainer. Nickells was inducted into the Harness Racing Hall of Fame on July 4, 2016.
Adelbert "Del" Cameron (1920-1979) was an American harness racing driver. Cameron was voted into the Harness Racing Hall of Fame in 1974.
Hot Hitter, a bay Standardbred Champion racehorse, won two of the Pacing Triple Crown races in 1979 while on his way to setting a single-season earnings record of $826,542 for a harness horse.
Ralph Hanover was a Standardbred colt who in 1983 became the seventh horse to capture the U.S. Pacing Triple Crown. Bred by Hanover Shoe Farms, as a yearling he was purchased for $58,000 by trainer Stewart Firlotte at the 1981 Standardbred Horse Sale Company's Harrisburg, Pennsylvania auction.
Michel "Mike" Lachance is a retired harness racing driver. Widely recognized as among the best drivers of all time, his outstanding career began in 1967 in Quebec City. At retirement, he had won 10,253 races and purses totalling $187,710,149. He has been inducted into both the United States and Canadian Harness Racing Halls of Fame.