Welcome to the newly constructed homepage for Ken Schlotzhauer Stables, a harness racing operation located on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. We've been in the business for thirty years or so now and are just now catching up with the computer technology of the time! Currently we are training just under fifteen head of horses,(we've slowed down a bit since our three daughters have grown up and moved out!),with about a dozen of those racing on a regular basis. While we are currently only racing at Rosecroft, Dover, and Freehold Raceways,in the past we have found racing success at Harrington Racetrack, The Meadowlands, Yonkers Raceway, as well as Ocean Downs. This page is in the very early construction stages, but eventually we hope to have pix and stats on all of our horses, favorite drivers and trainers, links to some of our favorite harness racing websites, as well as information for the newcomer to the sport.

Harness racing is a fun, exciting sport for kids of all ages--whether you are an owner, trainer, driver, groom, or spectator, the sport is as exciting as any other!! The type of horses that race in harness races are called standardbreds, and are a fairly new breed of horse. All Standardbred horses can trace their heritage back to the great thoroughbred Hambletonian, whose great grandsire Messenger was the first ever harness horse brought to the United States. There are two types of "gaits" in harness racing --trotters and pacers, with the latter being the more common type of racehorse. Pacers, also known as "side wheelers" move the legs on each side of their body at the same time: both left legs will be moving to the front while both right legs are moving to the rear. Trotters on the other hand move with a diagonal gait, meaning that the left front and right rear legs move to the front in unison while the two other legs are moving to the rear. If you are planning on making money by betting horses in a race, you might want to learn how to read a program first. Sure, you might get lucky by picking a horse with a name that catches your fancy, but you will find that a little know how of basic program terminology will be QUITE an asset. Most tracks have a section in their nightly programs that goes over what each of the abbreviations in the program mean. Through reading a program, you can find out the age and gender of the race entries, a little bit of their racing history, including their last few starts, and previous earnings and marks. Your best bet though, may well be to get behind the scenes and talk to the people behind the horse--the trainers and grooms who work with the horses on an everyday basis. SO.... be sure and check out your nearest racetrack soon--it's quite nice to sit outside in the summer months for a night out at the races, and whether you come to bet or just watch these beautiful animals in motion, your visit to the races will certainly be worth your time!