162 and counting for Harness 5000

The weekly Harness 5000 tracker is about to achieve its first big milestone.

The tracker is updated weekly depending on how many horses have become eligible for the Harness 5000 at Ashburton on December 21.

The series, featuring 12 $60,000 finals, is for trotters and pacers whose sire stood for an advertised retail service fee of $5,000 or less in the breeding season of conception and to be eligible horses must compete in at least five race day starts between July 3 - December 9,2025.

The "168" on the tracker signifies correlation to the maximum number of horses that can compete on the day, based on 12 races of 14 horse fields. Right now the figure is at 162, that's an increase of 26 on a week ago. It is anticipated that around 350 horses will be in the mix come December, though this figure could fluctuate.

So far the biggest categories are for the 5YO and older Entires and Geldings. There are currently 41 pacers and 35 trotters.

To see the Harness 5000 leaderboards click here