As someone who has spent a big part of every year for the last 35 years travelling between the Northern and Southern Hemispheres on business revolving around harness racing, I get to witness first hand trends and developments in the harness racing industry worldwide.
The Northern Hemishere in the past has always been in front of their Southern Hemisphere counterparts when it comes to the development of the standardbred breed along with track surfaces, equipment and race carts to name just a few things.
The industry in the Southern Hemisphere has always followed the lead on industry developments in the north to the point that in 2016 that we look like a carbon copy in many respects of our northern counterparts.
There use to be a time lag between developments in the north being adopted in the south but that gap is virtually non existent today with our industry in the south using a lot of the equipment and technology in use in the north.
Tracks in the Australasia are constantly closing the gap with North America while I believe some of our premier tracks such as Tabcorp Park Menangle, Tabcorp Park Melton in Australia and Ashburton and Addington in New Zealand are condition wise the equal of anything I have seen in North America.
The race bikes in use in Australasia are cutting edge these days and have certainly contributed to the dramatic fall in overall times we have witnessed in the south in the last few years.
So the harness racing industry in the Southern Hemisphere now operates on a par with our Northern Hemisphere counterparts on so many levels and that development is allowing our bloodstock to show that the gap between them and their Northern Hemisphere cousins is shrinking by the day.
Since the advent of shuttle stallions in the 1990s, breeders in the Southern Hemisphere have obtained access over the next 20 years to most of the best stallions stallions standing in North America.
What started as a small trickle at first is now a torrent with the result that the leading sires in North America in 2016 are the leading sires in Australasia in 2016.
Somebeachsomewhere, Art Major, Bettor's Delight, American Ideal, Mach Three and Rock N Roll Heaven dominate the Southern Hemisphere siring charts.
Champion racehorses entering the stallion ranks such as A Rocknroll Dance, Sweet Lou and He's Watching are immediately available down under to the point that some stallions cover their first lifetime book of mares in Australasia.
The impact of Southern Hemisphere breeders having access to the best stallions in the world has been to raise the standard of the standardbred breed in Australasia at a rate that is unparalled in the history of the industry down under.
When you add the vast improvement in technology used in our industry alongside the bloodstock bred these days in Australasia, the end result is the speed explosion we are witnessing on a weekly basis these days.
Times are being run on a regular basis now that would have been unheard of as little as three to five years ago.
On Saturday night at Menangle, the three year old son of Somebeachsomewhere in Waikiki Beach posted a 1:50.6 mile in winning a race in his build up to the New South Wales Derby.
It was a brilliant performance that he achieved without any real pressure from his rivals and he gave the distinct impression he had more to offer late in the straight.
What made the effort even more impressive was he ran that time at night.
North Americans have long reconized that there is an atmospheric advantage time wise when racing during the day.
As a result most of their major classics such as Hambletonian Day or Little Brown Jug Day are staged during the day to maxmise the speed factor involved.
Last years astonishing Ladyship Mile win by Adore Me in 1:47.7 was just another example of how daytime races do have an advantage over races staged at night.
Both the New Zealand Cup meeting and the Harness Jewels meeting are renowned for producing times close to or better than existing New Zealand records and it is no coincidence that they are both daytime meetings.
I have to admit I am really looking forward to the big day at Menagle on February 28th
The Miracle Mile and Ladyship Mile being run during the daytime for me raises the anticipation of sub 1:50 races.
In my opinion that is the last piece of the jigsaw needed in our classics run over a mile if we want to see our Southern Hemishere bred horses start to breach that 1:50 mark on a regular basis.
JC