Australian Pacing

In some elements Australian Pacing differs from the ways in which the sport in practised in the 'home of pacing', the United States. While North American harness race tracks are either a one mile or half-mile circuit, the Australian track lengths varies from 700 metres to 100 metres. This means that in order to gauge a horses performance on an international level, the times achieved on one of these non-standardised tracks has to be converted into a mile-average, which can then be understood and correctly interpreted by an international audience.

Australia has been holding harness races since 1810 and has since developed a great zest fot the sport. There are in fact so many race tracks for the harness races in Australia that a subdivision of Metropolitan and Country races has become necessary in order to keep track of all events.

Online bookmakers list all of the city and country races for the day; for a list of recommended Aussie Bookmakers check our Australian Bookmaker Guide.

The most iconic race track of Australia has got to be Harold Park in Sydney; named after Childe Harold, a Kentucky-foaled standardbred who was brought to Australia in the early 1880s where he embarked upon a siring career which left him as forebear of a large percentage of Australian-foaled standardbreds. Interestingly, earlier attempts of Australian breeders to offer their indigenous stock as sires and mares to other owners of standardbreds had been rebuffed. There seemed to be a certain prejudice towards what was regarded as 'colonial stock'; which unfortunately prevented the preservation of a number of perfectly suitable Australian varieties of the standardbred, such as the 'Waler'.

Important Australian pacing events include the Pacers' series of the Australiasian Inter Dominion Championship which is held annually in February, currently hosted in Gloucester Park, Perth. However, the honour of hosting this prestigious event is distributed evenly across the participating states. The location rotates from state to state, peeking in an Inter Dominion series held in New Zealand every four years. The series is organised in sets of three heats - sprint (1600m-1900m), middle (2100m-2300m), and staying distance (over 2400m) - with the final and consolation races held a week after the the final round of heats. Gloucester Park is also home to the annual Australian Pacing Championships, which is a spectacular contest between the creme-de-la-creme of Australian Pacers.

Another popular Australian race track is the Globe Derby Park in South Australia, established in 1969, which took over the hosting duties of harness races in the region after the closure of Wayville Showgrounds in 1973. Globe Derby Park also held the famed Inter Dominion in 1990, 1997, and 2007. Victorian harness racing enthusiasts turn towards Moonee Valley, the state's metropolitan track located in Melbourne, which is Australia's shortest racing track. Queenslanders get their harness racing fix at Brisbane's Albion Park, hoping to get a glimpse of Queensland racing legend Be Good Johnny, winner of the 2007 Miracle Mile.

One of Australia's most beloved Pacers of all time is the Melton pacer Sokyola, who with 78 wins - 29 of them at Moonee Valley race track alone - is the sixth most successful Australian standardbred in racing history. In 2007 the Sokyola sprint was introduced at the Melton Complex to commemorate the remarkable animal, who was crowned Victorian Horse of the Year twice and Australian Horse of the Year also multiple times.

This hints at Australia's great passion for its pacers and harness races, an excitement in which you will love getting caught up in.

For more information, we recommend you visit this Australian Pacing Website.

If you prefer thoroughbred horse racing then the most popular races are the Melbourne Cup, Cox Plate, Caulfield Cup and Victoria Derby.