Harness racing in Australia Harness racing in Australia Harness racing, also colloquially known as trotting or the trots, is an important spectator sport in Australia, with large amounts of money wagered annually with bookmakers and the Totalisator Agency Board (TAB). In Australia there are 91 harness racing tracks, which hold over 1,900 meetings annually. There are approximately 2,900 drivers and 4,000 trainers with about 5,000 Standardbred horses foaled and registered each year. Harness racing in Australia is conducted with Standardbred horses racing around a track while pulling a driver in a two-wheeled cart called a "sulky", "gig" or "bike". Standardbred racehorses compete in two
Un-sprung cart Un-sprung cart The un-sprung cart was a simple, sturdy, one-horse, two-wheeled vehicle used by roadmen, farmers and the like for small loads of relatively dense material like road metal or dung. In Australia and New Zealand, it is frequently called a dray. Elsewhere, that is a name occasionally used. The name dray is also used for a wagon. A sprung cart, by contrast was a light, one-horse (or often, pony), two-wheeled vehicle with road springs, for the carriage of passengers on informal occasions. It was a class of vehicles with the name varying according to the body mounted on it.