Although Standardbreds are primarily bred for harness racing, as a breed they are capable of excelling at a variety of different disciplines and pursuits whether that be for pleasure purposes or competitively.
Standardbreds are often highly regarded for their willingness to learn, their enjoyment of work and their generally laid back natures. Whilst those that have undergone years of training for racing in a particular gait may take time to adapt to a new discipline, there are no barriers to pursuing a secondary, or indeed altogether different, career to that which they were initially bred.
In this section of our website, STAGBI would like to showcase some of the wonderful Standardbreds who have gone on to add a variety of different skills to their repertoires irrespective of whether they achieved success on the racetrack or not. This includes, but is not restricted to, the categories below.
Blue Whitton
BLUE WHITTON unraced 2015 Gelding owned by Natalie Fletcher Natalie purchased Blue as a 4year old and described as a “very wobbly baby that paced and didn’t really know how to canter” Natalie started by doing lots of hacking to build up his muscles and confidence....
Thunderstorm (Herbert) – Who decided on a different destiny …
By Village Connection oo Stormy C (Creativity) It’s fair to say that Herbert (Thunderstorm) was NOT keen on (harness) racing. It didn’t matter a jot to him that all his family had sprinted round the circuits for generations, or that his breeder, Maureen Westwood was...
Share your story
STAGBI maintains a responsibility for the Standardbred for the entirety of its life, not just that of its racing career, and welcomes stories of Standardbreds in their lives outside of racing. If you would like to submit information about your Standardbred for inclusion on the website, please send your story and photos to info@standardbred.org