PR Harness the record of the oval

Standardbred

Binny's Spirit

10 charted starts at Plainridge, best mile 1:59.0.

The Record

Binny's Spirit appears in the surviving Plainridge programs across 3 seasons, 2003 to 2008, with 10 starts for which the official chart records a finishing position. None of those starts produced a win in the charts held here, though the horse reached the frame on 5 occasions.

The fastest mile recorded here is 1:59.0, set on Tuesday, August 3, 2004. A harness time is written in minutes, seconds and fifths, so the final digit is a fifth of a second rather than a hundredth. On a five-eighths-mile oval like Plainridge a horse turns four times in a mile, which costs ground against the bigger tracks and makes reading one mile against another misleading.

The classes Binny's Spirit was entered in run to NW200PS, NW400PS, 7500CL OP, 10000CL OP, OPEN, NW300PS. These are condition races rather than claiming events, so eligibility rested on money already won rather than on a posted purchase price.

The drivers who sat behind Binny's Spirit most often were David J Marshall (7), James E Hardy (2). Driver changes matter more in harness racing than the bare numbers suggest, because the same horse can be driven for early speed or held for a late quarter depending on who holds the lines.

Every Start Held Here

DateRcFinPPTimeOddsDriverClass
May 13, 2008 4 4 Jo Beckwith NW200PS
Nov 6, 2004 9 4 TBA NW400PS
Oct 25, 2004 7 6 8 2:00.3 22.20 James E Hardy 7500CL OP
Oct 18, 2004 4 3 6 2:00.4 9.10 James E Hardy 10000CL OP
Oct 11, 2004 4 5 1 2:00.3 18.60 David J Marshall OPEN
Sep 27, 2004 2 4 7 2:00.2 25.40 David J Marshall 7500CL OP
Sep 13, 2004 7 2 David J Marshall OPEN
Sep 7, 2004 6 3 3 2:00.3 6.60 David J Marshall 7500CL OP
Aug 17, 2004 6 3 4 1:59.3 4.20 David J Marshall NW300PS
Aug 10, 2004 6 4 7 2:01.0 6.10 David J Marshall 4000CL OP
Aug 3, 2004 8 3 7 1:59.0 7.10 David J Marshall NW400PS
Apr 19, 2004 11 SCR - NW250PS
Apr 5, 2004 4 3 5 2:06.0 7.50 David J Marshall NW250PS
Nov 4, 2003 5 3 David J Marshall NW250PS
Sep 20, 2003 4 7 David J Marshall NW3PMLT
Sep 15, 2003 12 7 David J Marshall NW4PMLT

All horses in the record

Questions about this horse

Who drove Binny's Spirit?

David J Marshall (7) and James E Hardy (2). The figure in brackets is the number of drives.

Was Binny's Spirit a trotter or a pacer?

Both gaits appear in this record: trot and pace. That is unusual and is worth reading as the chart wrote it rather than as a settled fact.

Which conditions was Binny's Spirit entered under?

NW200PS, NW400PS, 7500CL OP and 10000CL OP, plus 6 other conditions. Each code is a set of eligibility conditions rather than a grade — the class pages explain what each one admitted.

What were the odds on Binny's Spirit?

The shortest price in the recovered charts is 4.20 to one. Odds are the closing figures printed on the chart, so they reflect what the pool decided at the off, not a forecast.

How many starts does the record show for Binny's Spirit?

The record shows 10 charted starts for Binny's Spirit, 2003 to 2008. The name appears on 16 race days in all once entry sheets are counted, because a horse can be drawn into a race and then scratched before it is run. That is what the programmes and result sheets hold, not necessarily the horse's full career: starts made at other tracks are outside this record.

How did Binny's Spirit finish in these races?

Not in the charts recovered here. Binny's Spirit shows 10 starts without a win, though there were 5 placings — 0 second and 5 third — in the first three.

What is the best time recorded for Binny's Spirit?

1:59.0, on 2004-08-03. Harness times are read as minutes, seconds and fifths, so 1:59.0 is 1 minute and the rest in seconds — the final fifth is the digit after the last point.