CLEARFIELD \u2014 One of the longstanding features of the Clearfield County Fair starts again today as harness racing takes place starting today in the first of four days of action.<\/p>\n
Race enthusiasts will take to the grandstand on Saturday, July 12, at 5:30 p.m., Sunday, July 13, at 1 p.m., Monday, July 14 at 1 p.m. and Tuesday, July 15, at 5:30 p.m. to watch the Standardbreds circle the track.<\/p>\n
Jeanne Urban, clerk of the course for the past 45 years, said Standardbred is an American horse breed that\u2019s best known for its ability in harness racing.<\/p>\n
\u201cDeveloped in the United States in the 1700s, the Standardbred is recognized worldwide,\u201d Urban said. \u201cThe breed can trace its bloodlines to 18th-century England. Standardbreds are solid, well-built horses with good dispositions. They are considered easy-to-train horses with a willing submissive nature.<\/p>\n
\u201cStandardbreds are well-muscled, long-bodied animals, that are slightly heavier than a Thoroughbred, with solid legs and powerful shoulders and hindquarters; able to trot or pace at speed for racing. Standardbreds take their name from the fact that they are able to race at a designated rate or standard. The original standard, established in 1879, was two minutes and 30 seconds. Thanks to improved breeding and better equipment, Standardbreds now race sub-two minute miles \u2014 often racing in one minute and 50 seconds.\u201d<\/p>\n
The sport itself is governed by the United States Trotting Association and by the Pennsylvania Horse Racing Commission, Urban said.<\/p>\n
\u201cPennsylvania law provides for a set of Fair Sire Stakes during the operating period of each applying fair in the state for 2 and 3-year old Standardbred race horses,\u201d Urban said. \u201cRaces are further divided by sex (fillies and colts\/geldings) and by gait (trotters and pacers).<\/p>\n
\u201cStandardbreds race either at a trot or pace. In the trot, the horse\u2019s legs move in diagonal pairs; when the right foreleg moves forward, so does the left hind leg, and vice versa. In the pace each foreleg moves in unison with the hind leg on the same side. Pacers are slightly faster than trotters.\u201d<\/p>\n
Each race is a part of the Pennsylvania\u2019s Fair Sire Stakes and are divided into \u201cA\u201d and \u201cB\u201d divisions, based on the horses qualifying times. Urban said each entry pays a starting fees of $75 and $50, respectively, that is added to the purses. Each \u201cA\u201d race have base purses of $7,500, $5,000, and $3,750 for one, two, or three-plus divisions. All \u201cB\u201d races start from a base of $2,500.<\/p>\n
Urban said the \u201cA\u201d-level horses earn points based on their finishing positions. The top \u201cA\u201d point earners with five fair starts (including both \u201cA\u201d and \u201cB\u201d levels) who enter will race for $25,000 in each of the eight Pennsylvania Fair Sire Stakes Championships, to be held Monday, Oct. 13 at Pocono Downs at Mohegan.<\/p>\n
This week\u2019s harness racing schedule will see 2-year-old trotters kick things off on Saturday, 2-year-old pacers on Sunday, 3-year-old trotters on Monday and 3-year-old pacers finishing things off on Tuesday as \u201cA\u201d and \u201cB\u201d class races will be held each day from the respective divisions.<\/p>\n
The driver with the most harness racing victories for the week will earn the fair\u2019s Buster DiSalvo Trophy.<\/p>\n
Tuesday\u2019s day of racing will also see the popular Hat Derby Contest take place once again with this year\u2019s event being sponsored by the Clearfield Revitalization Corporation. Contestants wishing to take part there are asked to arrive at 4:30 p.m. next to the bleachers at the grandstand and judging will begin at 5 p.m.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CLEARFIELD \u2014 One of the longstanding features of the Clearfield County Fair starts again today as harness racing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":258712,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4107],"tags":[99216,99227,99220,99226,45130,99218,99214,99219,99224,99225,99222,99217,99213,99221,288,21031,99223,99233,99232,99230,27647,99215,99229,1071,99228,79,99212,99231,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-258711","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-racing","8":"tag-animal-breeding","9":"tag-animal-breeds","10":"tag-animal-racing","11":"tag-animals-in-sport","12":"tag-domesticated-animals","13":"tag-equestrian-sports","14":"tag-equestrianism","15":"tag-equini","16":"tag-equus-genus","17":"tag-harness-racing","18":"tag-horse-breeding-and-studs","19":"tag-horse-breeds","20":"tag-horse-gait","21":"tag-horse-industry","22":"tag-horse-racing","23":"tag-horses","24":"tag-horses-and-humans","25":"tag-individual-horses","26":"tag-individual-horses-in-sport","27":"tag-individual-racehorses","28":"tag-livestock","29":"tag-mammal-breeds","30":"tag-mammals-and-humans","31":"tag-racing","32":"tag-reproduction-in-mammals","33":"tag-sports","34":"tag-standardbred","35":"tag-thoroughbred-racehorses","36":"tag-uk","37":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=258711"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258711\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/258712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=258711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=258711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=258711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}