Enjoying harness racing for the first time? Here’s a guide to some of the colourful ‘harness speak’ you may come across in this racebook or hear the racecaller say. One quick read and you’re now a harness racing expert….

Pacer – A horse which moves both legs on the same side forward in unison. Almost 100% do so through the aid of hopples (refer below). Approximately
80% of all harness races are conducted for pacers.

Trotter - (or squaregaiter) – A horse which moves its left front and right rear legs forward almost simultaneously, then follows suit with right front and left rear leg.

Hopples – Leather straps connecting front and rear legs on the same side. They help a horse 'Pace' correctly.

Stand start – A race where the horses stand behind elastic tapes to start the race and harness racing’s only form of enforcing metric handicaps. You will hear racecaller Dan Mielicki say, “Ánd the tapes go back” when they begin in these type of races.

Mobile start – A moving start. A race where horses score up behind a vehicle with two protruding arms called ‘the mobile’.

Driver – The person steering the horse in harness racing is called a driver, not a jockey.

C and M – The class of a horse. C stands for Country Assessment; M stands for Metropolitan Assessment. A C9 M4 pacer has won an equivalent of 9 country class races and 4 metropolitan class races.

The Death Seat – The position outside the leader, so named because it often brings the undoing of horse’s chances. You have to be tough and a good performer to win from ‘the Death’.

The One One – The position one wide and one back (directly behind The Death Seat). Often considered the best place to position in a race – with cover, but handy to the lead

Pull the plugs – Ear plugs or deafeners are used to block out sounds from a horse. When the driver “pulls the plugs”, more often than not in the concluding stages of a race, the horse can instantly hear noises and will often find another gear through an element of ‘surprise’.

The Pegs – For safety reasons Victorian tracks don’t utilise their running rails, instead pegs are used outside the rail. Hence, a horse racing on the inside is never 'on the fence’, it is 'on the pegs’.

Mile Rate – ‘The’ measuring stick of a horse’s ability. It is the time the winner of the race would have covered one mile (1609m) in based on the total time it took them to complete the distance of a race. A good mile rate is considered to be 2 minutes. The world record is 1:46.2! On average pacers post a mile rate 2-3 seconds faster than trotters for a race of the same distance.

Last Half and Last Quarter – The final 800m and 400m respectively of the race. Used by punters to assess a horse’s performance. On average a horse will run its last half in 59-60 seconds and it’s last quarter in 28-29 seconds. Elite horses can cover their last half mile in 55 seconds, their last quarter in 26 seconds.

Lead Time – The time it takes the leader to reach a point one mile from the finish. A quick lead time will often aid horses at the rear of the field, whilst a slow lead time assists the frontrunners.

Sprint Lane – A relatively new innovation to Harness Racing. An opening that can be used only in the home straight on the final occasion that enables horses on the inside of the field to have clear space in the run to the finish. Ultimately, it was introduced to ensure that all horses get their chance to win.