The Harness Racing Museum and Hall of Fame

Finally…I had time to write up part of my fun horsey vacation! I will start with my stop on the way up to Saratoga.

The Harness Racing Museum is located in the town of Goshen in New York on the town’s main street. If you are not a local (which I am not) it can be a little tricky to find. The signs from highway 87 are great…until right around the museum and then they sort of point towards roads that don’t take you to where you want to go. So if you go to see the museum my advice to you is to just keep your eyes open. The museum and track are located on the very end of the main street in the town of Goshen. It has several flags out front of different countries where harness racing takes place.

Once we arrived parking was a snap. You can park right out front! Once you walk under the shaded trees you see this beautiful sign and a walkway filled with bricks that have been engraved with farms and in memory of horses. The exterior of the museum does not look like a normal museum. In fact, it looks a bit like an old time barn…and that is because it was! Going inside I was greeted by a very friendly staff member who told us to go right into the museum because…THE MUSEUM IS FREE!!!! That was an excellent surprise! We started down stairs and went into a section that looked like a stable to start our education on harness racing.

Did you know that Standardbred came from Thoroughbred blood lines? And almost all of them can be traced back to the same Thoroughbred? Harness racing also first took place in Pennsylvania! Go figure. The museum was filled with information on how harness racing begin and the horses and people that made it important. Considering I have never been to a harness race in my life, and the closest I get to Standardbred’s is through your blogs I did not get the impression I was the museums target audience. It was still fun to read about the history none the less.

I think if you have a Standardbred this museum would be fascinating for you. You could probably learn a lot about your horses ancestry and the farm or trainer they came from. The bottom floor was mostly historical and “museum” type information with all sorts of neat nick nacks. Did you know that there was a horse named Hambeltonian? I didn’t. I knew about the race, but not the horse. He is one of the most famous Standardbred’s ever! Although they didn’t start calling them Standbred’s until the 1920s. Because that was when they created a breed standard.

Going upstairs you will find some major kid friendliness (which I loved since I am a big kid myself). There were all sorts of interactive exhibits like getting to ride in a sulky yourself, a giant talking horse head (which scared the crap out of me because it is motion sensitive), and even a ride! They had a theme park style ride of what it is like to ride in a race (which was odd because the perspective was like you were in between the carts, but not on them, but the wind and movement made it feel like you were on the cart). They had a great exhibit on harness racing in movies (and since I love my movies I really enjoyed that one).

You also get an amazing view of the track at Goshen from the second story. As you can see from the sky the weather was not the best when I went, but it was very cool to be able to stand outside and imagine horses trotting (or pacing) down the track. I now have a favorite Standardbred! The “grey ghost” was his nickname and his real name is Greyhound, he trotted the mile in 1:55 and change! Granted this all happened back in 1932, but it was very cool to hear about and to see the paintings of. And of course he was a lovely dappled grey! So does anyone out there have a horse that goes back to his lines? I would love to hear from you.

The other part of the museum is the hall of fame which takes up half of the second floor. It is filled with names of people and horses who have made the sport. I admit that since I do not know a lot about harness racing I did sort of rush through this part. Sorry! They had these cool statues of some of the inductees though which were very cool to look at. And you know how I love my trophies so of course I had to stop and drool at these beauties!

So as you can tell I had a great time at the Harness Racing Museum and Hall of Fame and would HIGHLY recommend it to anyone out there who is thinking about visiting. One thing that stood out to me was how wonderful the staff was. Everyone was friendly and helpful, and they even came around looking for us when we went upstairs to make sure that we got to ride the simulator! They were just so nice! The Harness Racing Museum would make a perfect day trip for anyone in the area. It was not even 2 hours from home for me and the drive was totally worth it! Plus,  because the Harness Racing Museum is right on main street you can walk somewhere for a nice lunch and have a great family day. And since there is no admission price it is cheap day trip as well! So if you ever find yourself in, or near Goshen make the trip to the Harness Racing Museum. It is not only OnTheBit approved, it is OnTheBit recommended!

So now for the fun part. Because I has such a great time at the Museum, I felt I needed to contribute to it in someway. So naturally, I made my way to gift shop and picked up some goodies for a little mini blog contest. I got a magnet from the museum which is pretty cool looking (I got one for myself) and a pin and neckless with a horse in full trot and a sulky behind them. I know I have several Standardbred readers, but this contest is open to all if you want the prize. So the question…What is my horse Gennyral’s “real name”? It is also the name I showed him under and his race tack name (hence the tie in). I will give you a hint because it is tricky…I never have written it, but have several pictures (including one of him racing…hint hint) with his name on them. The first person to write his name correctly in the comments wins!