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
Cart animal that pulls them, such as "horsecart" or "oxcart". In modern times, horsecarts are used in competition while draft horse showing. A "dogcart", however, is usually a cart designed to "carry" hunting dogs: an open cart with two cross-seats back to back; the dogs could be penned between the rear-facing seat and the back end. The term "cart" (synonymous in this sense with "chair") is also used for various kinds of lightweight, two-wheeled carriages, some of them "sprung carts" (or "spring carts"), especially those used as open pleasure or sporting vehicles. They could be drawn by a horse, pony or