Horses and their trainers are preparing for the start of the 2026 Standardbred harness racing season at Century Downs Racetrack just north of Calgary. The season kicks off with a meet starting April 4, and that means trainers are getting their horses out on the track as much as possible before the event. James Jungquist, a fourth-generation harness racer, says trainers ride different sulkies to practice than what’s driven in a race. “In the mornings, if you come by and see us jogging, it’s a little bit of a different cart; it’s a little bit heavier, it’s got a different set of tires on, it’s built for a little bit more comfort for me and it’s a little heavier to add the endurance to the horses,” he said. “The race bikes you see us in on the weekend, those are more like your NASCAR cars. The top drivers like Brandon Campbell—the new bike he just bought, I think it was $7,600 American, so they’re carbon fibre, they’re light and they’re really built for speed.” Josh Murphy, assistant manager of racing, says Alberta has a vibrant harness racing community at Century Downs, with something for the whole family to enjoy. “We race till the last weekend in August here for Standardbred,” he said. “We’re typically Friday nights and Saturday afternoons but do have some odd days; we do a Canada Day celebration on June 30, so the day before, and we do fireworks and we race on Father’s Day instead of the Saturday that week, but typically it’s Friday and Saturday until the end of August.” Murphy says harness racing is an exciting sport and a fan favourite in southern Alberta, but it’s likely more popular in eastern North America. “It’s really popular in the Northeast. Ontario’s got a ton of it, and then New York, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania—that’s kind of the hub of it,” he said. “There’s not as much racing on the West Coast, but it’s certainly very popular over in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Sweden and other parts of the world.” Rod Hennessy owns 16 horses that are at the track preparing for the 2026 season. He got his start in the sport at 13 years old. Now, he’s 71 and still enjoys finding a good Standardbred horse. “A good horse really wants to get out there and race; they love the competition, and I guess it’s just like any other sport: if the athlete wants to do it, they’ll do it,” he said. “You look at their attitude; if they’re standing in the stall holding their head down, that horse is probably going to be like that all his life. You don’t want them too crazy as a yearling, but they’ve got to have a sharp eye.” Hennessy hit paydirt with a horse named Shark Week that he picked up for $6,000 at an auction in High River. Some Standardbreds go for more than $100,000. As of the end of the 2025 season, the seven-year-old’s lifetime earnings were more than $535,270. “Shark Week (is) a horse that can just go and go super fast and dig in,” said Murphy. “And sometimes you get another horse that makes a huge closing move, and it’s just kind of organized chaos, and just watching it live is just amazing to see the bikes, the drivers, nine horses all together in the race, and just so much can happen.” You can learn more about the 2026 Standardbred harness racing season here.
