There are two breeds of U. S. racehorses: Thoroughbred and Standardbred. The Thoroughbred, developed in England, races under saddle and runs at a horse's natural gait, a gallop. The Standardbred, a U. S. product, races in harness and runs at a man-trained trot or pace.* For those U. S. citizens who remember the horse-&-buggy days, no sport takes them back so fast as a trotting race, no sport event is more endearing than the Hambletonian, richest and most famed of the 25,000 or more harness races held in the U. S. every summer.
For the 14th running of the Hambletonian (for three-year-old trotters), 40,000 harness-racing enthusiasts gathered last week in the tiny village of Goshen, N. Y. It was the year's muggiest day. But the sweltering crowd—a hodge-podge of city slickers and country bumpkins—jostling into Good Time Park like a rush-hour subway crush, would not have traded places with the coolest sea bather. Up to the bookmakers they streamed, placed their bets, bought soda pop, then settled down to watch the four races on the Hambletonian Day card.
For a century harness races have been started by a unique method called scoring: horses parade up the track in double file, turn and trot (or pace) down to the starting line in their lot-drawn post positions. Sometimes ten or 15 scores are required before the starter considers that they have all gone over the line "on their gait" (without breaking stride)—with the "pole" (No. 1) horse nosing ahead. Many times seasoned drivers deliberately spoil the start in order to wear down less experienced drivers or the horse with the No. 1 position.
In the preliminary races on last week's Hambletonian Day card, the horses were sent off by a new-fangled starting gate: ropes hanging down from a wire drawn high over the starting line. Drivers were permitted 15 seconds (tolled off by a phonograph record) to jockey for position and cross the line. Those who jumped the word "Go" were disqualified.
But for the $40,000 Hambletonian itself, the ancient starting method was used. Ten times the ten horses went over the starting line, ten times were sent back. It was apparent that three drivers with bad scoring positions were trying to tire Gauntlet, the pole horse. On the eleventh score, the starter finally said "Go."
All this skullduggery was waste motion. At the first turn, Doc Parshall, driving the favorite, Peter Astra (2:02 ¼), whizzed by the field on the outside, saw his opening and took it. From then on it was just a breeze. Peter Astra finished the first heat* three lengths in front of second-place Gauntlet. The second heat was even more one-sided. Starting from the pole position because of his victory in the first heat, Peter Astra won by five lengths, took the Hambletonian Stake in two straight heats.