Numbers soar for Harness 5000

The number of horses eligible for December's Harness 5000 meeting at Ashburton continues to soar.

Every week the Harness 5000 Progress Tracker is updated to show the number of horses who have reached the qualifying threshold for the meeting. Last week the figure was 117. The week before that it was 83.

Now it is at 136.

The "168" on the tracker signifies all 12 races having full 14-horse fields. It is however anticipated that around 350 horses will be in the mix come December, though this figure could fluctuate.

The Harness 5000 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.

On December 21 there will be  $60,000 finals in each of the 12 categories. All will be 1700 metre mobiles.

So far the biggest categories are for the 5YO and older Entires and Geldings. There are currently 31 pacers and 30 trotters.

To see the Harness 5000 leaderboard click here