The Standardbred is a relatively new breed, dating back only about two centuries, but it is one of just a few true American breeds. The breed's origins trace back to Messenger, a gray Thoroughbred stallion from the Darley Arabian line. Foaled in England in 1780, Messenger was sent to the United States at the age of eight. Though Messenger was breed for flat racing and never competed in harness, he is also famous for being the great-grandsire of Hambletonian 10, the "foundation sire" of the breed and to whom nearly every Standardbred today can trace its bloodlines. Also, Messenger's pedigree links him to the Norfolk Trotter, another strong influence on the early development of the Standardbred.
Hambletonian, foaled in 1849, never actually raced himself, though it was recorded that he trotted a mile in 2:48.5 in a trial as a three-year-old. As a youngster he was ridiculed for his unusual conformation -- he measured 15.1¼ hh at the withers, but his hind end measured 15.3¼ hh -- and all of the "knowledgeable" horsemen that saw him predicted he would never amount to anything. In his lifetime he would sire 1335 foals, among them Dexter, who lowered the trotting record to 2:17.25, as well as George Wilkes, Dictator, Happy Medium, and Electioneer, four strong foundation sires of the breed.
The Standardbred's name came to be in the 1870's, when the requirements for registration were to be able to trot a standard of a mile 2:30. The pacers would come into the picture later.
Early in the history of the Standardbred, races were held on roads, with friends and neighbors challenging each other to see whose horse was the faster. The races came to be big events, for which the streets of major cities were cleared -- hence the existence of a Race Street in so many cities.
Characteristics
While the Standardbred still bears a strong resemblance to the Thoroughbred, it has some differences. It tends to be shorter -- averaging 15.2 hands instead of 16 -- and has a longer body. The Standardbred is also not quite as refined as the Thoroughbred, tending to have a somewhat stouter build and a larger head. Standardbreds are also known for being much quieter than their ancestor the Thoroughbreds, and more forgiving of mistakes.
Like Hambletonian, many Standardbreds today still have hindquarters that are set higher than their withers. The haunches are deep and muscular, and give the horses a powerful "engine" that proves useful for racing as well as for life after the track. The limbs are clean and strong, and the hooves and legs are well-known for being hard and durable.
Standardbreds have always been bred to a performance standard, where function matters more than form, and some might not consider them as "pretty" or refined as say, Thoroughbreds or Arabians. But as breeders aim for a more conformationally-correct horse, we begin to see less of the thick, Roman-nosed profile that many people think of when they picture a Standardbred. Individual horses outside of the track have been mistaken for Thoroughbreds, Morgans, Quarter Horses, Arabians, Tennessee Walkers, Warmbloods, and even Andalusians.
The most common colors for Standardbreds are bay and brown, followed by black, gray, chestnut, and roan. They also come in pinto, and there have been reported cases of dun, white, and dilutes (palomino, buckskin, cremello, etc); it's even been rumored that there was a champagne Standardbred making appearances on the track. Also, the stallion Aachen was famous for exhibiting a rare marking known as a "lace" or "cobweb" pattern, which he passed on to a lesser degree to some of his offspring.
Ireland's Who Who Gives a Toss, an example of a Standardbred with color. (Photo courtesy www.harnnessracingni.com)
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