and for the occasion, Standardbred Canada posted this article, complete with the final race - http://standardbredcanada.ca/notices…n-shocker.html
I’ll be watching. I do prefer TB over QH or STB but TVG will carry both top tier (Meadowlands, Woodbine Mohawk) as well as smaller (both in size and company) tracks usually during their evening coverage.
I wonder if TVG will go back to carrying more of the Scandinavian trotter races… fun to watch and different types of races (monte) and somethings those trotters were nice, hairy chunky monkey horses !
I can appreciate races like Little Brown Jug and the Hambletonian.
They were showing Denmark-Odense yesterday morning. The track seemed very small!
1000 meters around just like most Scandinavian harness tracks. They also have a turf track for TB racing on the outside
Thank you for posting the link, @sk_pacer . I lose track of the Hambletonian. I wish NBCSN would broadcast it, or one of the big 3 networks. It is certainly as major a race as the Kentucky Derby.
I’ve just been chatting with a new neighbor about Standardbreds. She used to know trotters.
One of the TV channels did show a couple of harness races last weekend that I caught. One trotting, one pacing. Very good to see.
For those interested - was a good race, as for I believe only the 15th time in its 95 year history, a filly won. She schooled them. Wasn’t even close.
ETA: Video replay and recap: http://ustrottingnews.com/ramona-hil…-hambletonian/
I will tell you, the last few years the filly and mare trotters have been extremely tough. It’s interesting how they are competitive with the colts. Jimmy Takter, arguably one of the best trainers of all time, wrote an article on why he believes that is; has to do with the finesse of the trotting versus pacing gait. It was a pretty interesting article.
The filly Sorella was, to me, equally impressive in the Hambletonian Oaks as was Ramona Hill in the Hambo.
Ramona Hill, what can you say. Her burst of speed down the stretch is pretty impressive.
I was curious (for those more knowledgeable in standardbred racing than I) in the Oaks, Sorella had what looked like some sort of ‘wrap’ above her knees. What might be the purpose for those and what are they made of… the skinny black stripe on the white made them appear to be not well secured but I can’t believe that would be the case.
It’s knee tape. It’s for horses that just barely brush (interfere with) their knees. The standard knee boot would actually exacerbate the interference. The knee tape gives them just enough protection without the extra bulk.