Harnesslink

With three wins over the past week, top driver Ricky May now sits on 1999 lifetime wins. Last Friday night at Addington Ricky edged closer to the milestone with two wins, firstly with Dreamaway Jess in Race 2 then Isinbayeva in Race 5...

Rick's race-of-the-day is at Yonkers Raceway on Thursday June 25 where he has selected the Jason Bartlett driven C C Dream to win the $10,000 seventh event for fillies and mares. However if you want to Make a Bundle' check out his two 8-1 and 10-1 longshots in races 10 and 11...

In what appears to be the most competitive leg of Monticello Raceway's year-long Heritage Drivers Series Bruce Aldrich, Jr. will handle the morning line favorite, Missy's Q T, in the race for drivers of English extraction. on Tuesday, June 23...

Illinois conceived and foaled two-year=old colt pacers were back in action on Sunday night at Balmoral Park as a total of 18 youngsters squared off in a pair of $10,000 Wicked Brew Stake splits. In the first division William C. & William P...

Mount Macedon breeders Geoff Hood and Sonya Treseder would have been highly excited when their Sports Town/Special Code gelding Pepperell Fortytwo greeted the judge in the Mallia Builders 3-Y-0 Pace over 2180 metres at Kilmore on Monday June 22.

One of the top pacing mares in North America has been classified as a genetic male according to the United States Trotting Association after recent testing performed stateside. The USTA has ruled that Martha Maxine, trained and co-owned by Erv Miller, will now be programmed as a horse.

The connections of Tasmania's C5-C7 class pacers will heave a sigh of relief when they hear the news that Victorian-owned and trained four-year-old Landscape is back on home soil...

Trainer Kirk Larsen has broken Les Norman's 43-year record for the most wins in a season recorded by a Southland trainer. The Branxholme horseman was credited with his 31st success of the season when Levi Lowe scored at Forbury Park last Thursday night.

The third race on the Monday card of June 22 at Hazel Park Raceway will be a trot for members of either the mid-west or eastern regions of the C.K.G. Billings Amateur driving Series...

There is nothing more important in harness racing, especially on a half -mile racetrack, than post position...

On Tuesday afternoon, June 23 Monticello Raceway will present the sixth leg of its Heritage Drivers Series. Dubbed 'the Mayflower Mile' all participating drivers can trace their heritage-either on the dads or mom's side-back to jolly old England, or at least to a country in the United Kingdom.

Promising Woodville trotter Raydon takes on some of the North Island's best squaregaiters when making his second trip to Alexandra Park this Friday (June 19)...

Harness Racing Victoria (HRV) has today announced a new programming policy that will deliver enhanced racing opportunities for metropolitan class trotters. Under the policy, HRV has committed to run at least one $20,000 mobile start trotters' free-for-all each month commencing from July 1, 2009.

Outstanding Rangiora mare Special Ops has a date with boom sire Mach Three in the spring but will first attempt to gain automatic entry to the New Zealand Cup field by winning the Avon Ford City Cup at Addington in early September.

Peter Cattoni, a man who changed the face of harness racing in New Brunswick, is dead. The 61-year-old died on Friday afternoon when his single engine plane crashed 10 kilometres (6 miles) from Chetwynd, which is in the foothills of the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains.

Major In Art, last year's USTA 2YO Pacing Colt of the Year and one of the most outstanding sons of former champion pacer Art Major, the leading sire of juveniles in North America and Australia, has been retired and will stand his first season at Stallion Station's Victorian base this spring.

Next up for players in the 2009 Jug Barn Fantasy Contest are Saturday's eliminations for the $1.5-million North America Cup at Mohawk Raceway in Campbellville, Ontario. There will be four $50,000 elimination heats of 10 horses each.

Those nasal flair strips are winning too many races week in week out not to be worthy of consideration for every harness racing trainer in this part of the world. Brian McMath, company director for nasal strips had a fantastic day at the Jewels with four winners wearing them on their big noses...

Richard Wojcio had a banner day at Rockingham Park on Sunday as he drove four winners, and everyone who backed him at the windows celebrated along with him...

Ozzie and driver Ron Gass won the Sunday afternoon feature in 1:58.2 at the Charlottetown Driving Park Entertainment Centre. The gelding owned by Bill Andrew, Calgary, Alberta, took command of the field at the half and hung on for the victory beating Hawaiin Legacy and Kenny Arsenault at the line.

Effective Wednesday, June 17, Woodbine Entertainment Group will reduce the takeout on its live thoroughbred and standardbred triactors to a total takeout of 27%, from 28.3%, when all of the mandatory regulatory deductions are included.

Monday's United States Supreme Court decision to decline to hear the appeal of a 2008 Illinois Supreme Court ruling that upheld legislation directing four Illinois riverboat casinos to pay an impact fee to the Illinois horse racing industry, should clear the way for distribution of nearly $80...

Joe Thomson, breeder of Little Brown Jug winners Bettors Delight and No Pan Intended and master of Winbak Farm, has been elected as the 25th Little Brown Jug Wall of Fame honoree by a panel of national and international harness racing enthusiasts.

Post positions have been drawn for both of Yonkers Raceway's Saturday night stakes finals - the $421,950 Art Rooney Pace, with seven 3-year-old colts in a "one-dash-for-the-cash" event, and the the $293,000 Lismore Pace for sophomore fillies.

In a move reminiscent of the American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA), the Arabian Horse Association (AHA) and the Arabian Horse Foundation has gone on record supporting horse slaughter with the passage of a resolution...

Dial Or Nodial, one of the top earning two-year-old colts last year, was installed the prohibitive 6-5 morning line in the $500,000 Anthony Abbatiello New Jersey Classic on Saturday, June 13 at the Meadowlands...

Post positions have been drawn for both of Yonkers Raceway's Saturday night stakes finals - the $421,950 Art Rooney Pace, with seven 3-year-old colts in a "one-dash-for-the-cash" event, and the the $293,000 Lismore Pace for sophomore fillies.

In a move reminiscent of the American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA), the Arabian Horse Association (AHA) and the Arabian Horse Foundation has gone on record supporting horse slaughter with the passage of a resolution...

Dial Or Nodial, one of the top earning two-year-old colts last year, was installed the prohibitive 6-5 morning line in the $500,000 Anthony Abbatiello New Jersey Classic on Saturday, June 13 at the Meadowlands...

Balmoral Park racing fans received their first look at some of this season's two-year-old colt pacing crop on Sunday night as a field of nine youngsters met in the $5,000 Jimmy Sunshine Stake.

Victorian harness racing's new home, Tabcorp Park, will welcome its first horses tomorrow (Tuesday) night. Thirteen trials featuring 100 horses will be held at the $45m racing and entertainment complex in Melton from 7.00pm.

JUSTIN CAMPBELL has endured a rollercoaster ride in his first decade as a trainer...

Rupert Rupert stepped off to the fastest mile of the 2009 state of Maine harness racing season on Saturday (May 30) as the veteran son of Albert Albert scorched the Scarborough Downs oval in a blistering1:55.1 with driver Shawn Gray at the controls.

The Dragon's Lair horse Parsons Den and leading West Australian standardbred nursery Royalstar Farm have taken a clean sweep of the current WA State Sires Series.

When the three-year-old Fulla Luck won on debut at Auckland last Friday (May 29) he became the fifth winner from the first frozen semen crop of the Camluck horse Northern Luck.The medium of heavy support, Fulla Luck was caught out 'on a limb' from the No. 6 gate for the first 600 metres.

Maffioso failed in his quest to become only the second horse to win a hat trick of Vicbred Super Series titles, but a slice of history was still created in last night's Group 1 four-year-old entires and geldings decider.

Todd Trites, the Maritime dash winning leader in the Maritimes with thirty six wins going into Sunday's card, will pilot Woodmere Quickpeek from post-one in the $ 1450 top-class...

Ron Waples stopped in on a visit to Fredericton and picked up the catch drive on Percy Jones' Perfect Approach and left the competition in the dust in a 1:58.3 victory on Thursday evening...

Some think of horse racing in terms of gambling. Gambling is but a small part of an industry that once was one of the proudest of its kind in America...

Truckers Ruffnut has been a beaten favourite at his last three starts but trainer Murray Hansen says the classy colt is the horse to beat in the $100,000 Premier Motors Suzuki State Sires final for three-year-olds colts and geldings at Gloucester Park on Friday night.

Forget the stnadradbreds for now, the Beach Boys, one of America's all-time favorite bands, is coming to Hoosier Park Racing and Casino. The group will perform Saturday, July 11 at 8 p.m. The Beach Boys will perform in "The Yard," located outdoors between the casino and the racetrack.

New Zealand reprsentative Peter Ferguson has regained control of the World Drivers Championship after 12 of the 20 Championship races. Race One at Biri saw Ferguson earn 17 points with a win behind Beauty's Rock.

Paul A. Fontaine, esq., a partner in the Rhode Island law firm of Fontaine & Croll, Ltd. has been named the recipient of the third annual Joseph A. Vaccaro Memorial Award given by the New England Harness Writers Chapter of the U.S. Harness Writers Assoc. (USHWA).

The trainer of the defending Molson Pace champion at London's Western Fair Raceway says the 2008 winner is looking like a longshot for a second straight year. Mind you, those closing odds of over 25-1 last year didn't stop Eagle Luck from winning the track's marquee event the last time he was here.

Earnest Hill of Marion, Ind. was the second winner in the TGI Caddy promotion at Hoosier Park Racing and Casino Friday, May 16. The promotion includes eight Cadillacs in eight weeks, offering more than $350,000 in cash and prizes during the promotion that extends to Friday, June 26.

Johnny Z, Mr Wiggles and Sheer Desire won the three elimination races of the Max C. Hempt Memorial Pace at Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs Saturday afternoon (May 16).

It was a Bluegrass kind of evening at Hoosier Park Racing and Casino as Dr. Luel Overstreet's horses kicked off the three-year-old filly Indiana Sires Stakes season with two victories Friday, May 15.

Apologies to all our Harnesslink readers. Due to unforeseen circumstances and server difficulties beyond our control, we were off-line today (Friday) from 6am to shortly before mid-day (New Zealand time).

Slave Dream made it two in a row after prevailing in the first of two $18,000 Hiram Woodruff legs Thursday night at the Meadowlands. Twin B Navigator hustled up the backstretch, passed tiring leaders and parked the stalking Slave Dream around the far turn.

New Zealand's Peter Ferguson made a flying start in the World Drivers Championship overnight (Thursday) in Norway with a victory in the opening round of heats. With four races of the Championship being held in Bergen, Ferguson drew Keith R in the first race...

Star young reinsman Morgan Woodley has been in the spotlight with Mysta Magical Mach but, even with wonder horse out of action, the 20-year-old will still be the centre of attention with David Hercules in the $45,000 Sony Centre 2YO Champagne Classic at Gloucester Park on Friday night.

New Zealand Cup champion Changeover will more than likely race 'Down Under' for another season contrary to a Harness Racing TV poll where 41 per cent of the voters believed the 5-year-old should end his racing career in North America in 2009-2010.

Heywood's Kevin Brough fresh from a big night at Globe Derby Park Adelaide the previous Saturday, produced a smart type in Malibu Grin, a Grinfromeartoear/Classic Malibu gelding to land the Dan O'Grady Memorial 2-Y-0 Pace over 2180 metres on debut at Terang on Tuesday May 5 in a 2-02.6 mile rate.

Balmoral Park will move to its "summer" racing schedule beginning this Tuesday, May 5th. The Crete plant will now conduct live racing on Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday's at 7:20 p.m. (central) and on Sunday's at 6:30 p.m. (central). This schedule will be in effect until Oct. 31st.

The powerful Great Western combination of Peter and Kerryn Manning made a rare visit to Nyah last Monday and finished the evening with a stable double from four starters at the meeting.

Again this past Saturday at Harness Racing's Exhibition Park Raceway, the heaven's were shining down on top-class pacer Caras Allamerican who stepped to his third straight victory for owner Gordon White, trainer Earl Fram, and driver Mark Haig.

Dan Carter, piloted by Tim Tetrick, came first over early on in the $45,000 finals of the Mohegan Pace to seize the lead and never look back in winning rather easily Saturday afternoon at Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs. Winning time for the race favorite was 1:50.3, a new lifetime mark.

Slick Rick Macomber, part of the Fab Five drivers at Hoosier Park Racing and Casino, picked up two wins in Indiana Sires Stakes action Saturday, May 2...

For the second consecutive year Terry 'the Dairy Queen' Donnelly reined a winner on the opening card of the C.K.G. Billings Amateur Driving Series...

The New Jersey Department of Agriculture Animal Health Diagnostic Laboratory is now connected with GlobalVetLink for online submittals of Equine Infectious Anemia (EIA/Coggins) tests. Equine Infectious Anemia is a viral disease for which there is no vaccine or cure.

Monticello Raceway 11th Annual Passover Pace for drivers of Jewish heritage, is set to go to post on Wednesday, April 15 and according to Eric Warner, the tracks director of racing, it's a wide-open affair.

Payments are due this Wednesday for several series to be raced at Tioga and/or Vernon Downs during the 2009 harness racing season. Nominations are due for the following races - Kindergarten Classic - A Vernon/Tioga series for 2YO's that requires a single payment of $750.

Kilmore's Mary-Jane Mifsud became the first harness racing woman to train and drive a Warragul Cup winner when Awesome Jasper won the $25,000 race, sponsored by Rapidvite, on Easter Sunday.

He had made breaks the last three times under the lights, but on this night, Pacinello was a pacing missile...

Rick Needham began making online selections in 1982 which makes him the first internet racing handicapper. Rick has launched a video series through YouTube brought to you by Harnesslink and Day At The Track. For Monday April 13, 2009 Rick handicaps Race #11 - Harrah's Chester - .

We've got a week and a day in the books at Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs, and the action has been thrilling so far. But it's no surprise that the weather has played a crucial factor in the early going.

When you're hot your hot. Case in point Getthemoney. Again on Wednesday, April 8 at Monticello Raceway the 7-year-old Credit Winner gelding notched his fourth victory against the best trotters on the grounds when Jimy Marohn got Getthemoney up in the final strides to score a 2:00:3 triumph.

In a move to improve standardbred racetrack surfaces across the province, and establish standards to ensure safe track conditions for participants and horses, the Ontario Racing Commission (ORC) has organized a seminar which will focus on best practices for surface maintenance.

Apache Dame, Chloes Silver Star, Shady Sabrina and Dream-A-While, all winners last time out lead a talented field of nine in the final $32,000 Mares' Open/Handicap pace of the meet on Tuesday, April 7. First post is 4:30 p.m. A $22,000 Mares Jr. Open and a $21,000 Mares pace top a strong undercard...

Plainville trainer Karen Garland, 44, who races a string of harness horses, is being treated for injuries she suffered last Friday afternoon (April 3) in a head-on car accident on Kozloski Road in Freehold Township, N.J.

Saturday, May 30 Hollywood Slots Hotel and Raceway will be giving away a 2009 Chevrolet Silverado and an additional $5,000 in cash and prizes. The Silverado, provided by Quirk Chevrolet, can be won by earning virtual entries at the casino now through May 30th.

Apache Dame, Chloes Silver Star, Shady Sabrina and Dream-A-While, all winners last time out lead a talented field of nine in the final $32,000 Mares' Open/Handicap pace of the meet on Tuesday, April 7. First post is 4:30 p.m. A $22,000 Mares Jr. Open and a $21,000 Mares pace top a strong undercard...

Plainville trainer Karen Garland, 44, who races a string of harness horses, is being treated for injuries she suffered last Friday afternoon (April 3) in a head-on car accident on Kozloski Road in Freehold Township, N.J.

Saturday, May 30 Hollywood Slots Hotel and Raceway will be giving away a 2009 Chevrolet Silverado and an additional $5,000 in cash and prizes. The Silverado, provided by Quirk Chevrolet, can be won by earning virtual entries at the casino now through May 30th.

The Equine Welfare Alliance (EWA) applauds the actions of the Illinois House of Representatives. On Wednesday, April 1, the House of Representatives convened for the third reading of the Horse Slaughter Bill, HB 583 and a vote of the full house.

Driver Ken Holliday found the best way to combat the awful weather at Buffalo's, Friday nights harness racing meeting, was to put your horse on the lead, and never look back...

Karen A Garland, 44, of Plainville, Mass., a well known horseman who races a string of standardbreds, was injured Friday afternoon in a head-on crash in Freehold Township, N.J.

A quartet of speakers representing New Jersey's racing industry made their case for slots at racetracks before the State Assembly Budget Hearing in the State House Annex on Thursday, April 2, 2009.

Real Deal Yankee proved he was the 'real deal' at Alexandra Park tonight (Friday) when winning the feature four-plus-win-trot, and in doing so downed last year's Interdominion champion, Galleons Sunset, and last season's Trotter-of-the-Year, Sovereignty.

Gene Robb's dream of driving two leading chances on Harness Jewels Day at Ashburton on May 30 is still alive thanks to two masterly drives and a (Harness Racing New Zealand's) Judicial Control Authority (JCA) decision at Alexandra Park tonight (Friday).

Basketball star Devin Harris visited Meadowlands Racetrack with 30 children from Big Brothers Big Sisters of Morris, Bergen and Passaic Counties on Tuesday, March 31...

There was more than just one Interdominion champion at Parklands Raceway on Saturday March 28. Sure, Mr Feelgood and Anthony Butt won the most prestigious prize, but Jessika Manzelmann and Paleface Katie were also crowned 2009 Interdominion Champions.

Who are the tough guys of sport? North American hockey players? The New Zealand Alll Blacks? Aussie rugby league players? Or perhaps any opening bastman that plays cricket and has to face deliveries of up to 150km per hour?

Don't be surprised if Morgan Woodley wins the Australasian Young Drivers Championships being held in at three Queensland tracks this week...

Starsel wins the $33,000 Open trot, the $22,000 Jr. sub feature trot plus three DSBF soph $20,000 filly and two $20,000 colt prelims highlight a strong feature trotting program on Wednesday, March 25 at Dover Downs.

Sopranos star Vincent Pastore, who portrayed Salvatore 'Big Pussy' Bonpensiero on the hit TV series, was at the Isle Pompano Park Wednesday. Pastore came to the track to watch a friend of his compete, trainer/driver Raymond Vizzi, who had Ferraras Girl in the fifth race $8,500 feature trot.

Following the broadcast on 2KY radio of the three year sponsorship of the New South Wales Breeders Challenge by Alabar Bloodstock, industry representatives have warmly welcomed the announcement and the confidence it will return to the NSW breeding industry.

With the help of his racing manager, Anthony Altomonte, trainer Peter Kleinhans has carved a niche for himself by acquiring green horses with great potential. Wearable Art, the 2007 Berry's Creek winner, and current winter series standout Oliver Cleo are among their shrewd purchases.

Canterbury trainer-driver Paul Court wants the Forbury Park Trotting Club to be reprimanded for giving short notice to the cancellation of its race meeting last night (Thursday)...

he Delaware racing community lost a longtime friend and supporter this week when Jim McGinnis, a harness horse owner and former Delaware Lt. Governor passed away at age 77 after a battle with cancer.

Longshot Cosmic Illusion N wins male feature while GE's Alex takes female headliner on Wednesday, Feb.25 at Dover Downs...

Three new winners emerged from Thursday's second leg of what has been a wide open General Brock Trotting Series for four-year-olds at Woodbine Racetrack. The first division was an action-packed affair with Eventime parking most of the first half before taking over the lead.