National Standardbred Horse Show celebrates 30 Years

This fall, the National Standardbred Horse Show will celebrate its 30-year anniversary. What began as a small, one-day show for New Jersey harness racing enthusiasts has morphed into one of the largest single-breed horse shows in America.

Housed at the Horse Park of New Jersey, the now three-day show will take place from September 20 through 22, at the Allentown, NJ facility.

Helene Gregory, who came to the United States in 1997 from her native Sweden to work as a caretaker for Atlantic Trot, has been involved with the National Show since the early 2000s. She and husband Jeff have a stable of nine trotters.

“When I met Jeff, I was working for Mario Zuanetti at Pompano,” Helene related. “And then I worked for Eddy Lohmeyer, before we opened our own stable. I went to my first National Standardbred Horse Show in 2002, with my friend Alison (Giorgianni), when we were all stabled at Showplace Farm.”

While attending that show, Helene saw Michelle Gelrod showing Red Bow Tie p, 5, 1:48.2 ($2,673,920) under saddle. The son of Racing Glory had been a standout during his racing career, winning numerous stake events, including the $600,000 Meadowlands Pace, $380,000 Breeders Crown, $250,000 Prix-Autom, $100,000 Burlington, and $76,000 Jug Preview, to name just a few.

“I had never shown a horse in my life,” Helene admitted. “But when I saw Red Bow Tie under saddle, I wanted to try that, and go to the show. At the time, it was just a one day show with only a few classes. I had a trotter named Taurmade (Sir Taurus) who was too slow and so I convinced Jeff to let me keep him, and I found a place where I could ride him. The following year I took him in four classes and ended up with two wins and two seconds, and I was hooked. I was bitten by the show bug.”

Throughout its history, the National Standardbred Horse Show has been managed by the Standardbred Pleasure Horse Organization of New Jersey (SPHO-NJ). As well, the Standardbred Breeders and Owners Association of New Jersey (SBOA-NJ), has been one of the main sponsors of the club and the show from inception.

“Alison and I heard that the SPHO-NJ was in turmoil and she and I started going to the meetings,” Helene noted. “The SPHO-NJ was going through some challenging times and Alison, and I thought we could really help them out with our connections within the harness community. At the end of one meeting, Allison was named as the new president, and I was named vice president.”

At the time, the National Show did not have any set standards for participants—there were only a few classes and participants did not adhere to typical standards that are required by most horse shows.

“People just weren’t prepared,” Helene said. “The dress code for the various classes wasn’t up to par and Alison and I escalated the standards. We wanted the National Show to be as good as any horse show in the country, and little by little we were able to escalate the show by getting more funding. We began getting some incredible sponsors—from trainers, breeders, owners, feed supply people, and a lot of folks who really stepped up to help make the show what it is today.”

“One of our main goals is that we wanted to keep the cost low because horse shows are very expensive,” Helene continued. “We got a big boost came in 2008 or 2009 when we hired a judge who wrote a complimentary article in Hoof Beats and how exhibitors now looked like the real deal. That story really helped us, and that was the first year that we had outside people telling us that they were impressed by the fact that they couldn’t even tell that the horses in the show ring were Standardbreds.”

As more folks became interested in the show, classes were added, necessitating a third day.

“The interest just kept growing and now we have jumpers, dressage, driving, games, hunters, and western dressage,” Helene offered. “We also started offering clinics to help those people who wanted to show—including showmanship, dressage, and jumper clinics. We presented a two-day clinic with Olympic show jumper and Standardbred trainer Neal Shapiro, and the response was overwhelming.”

The SPHO-NJ also initiated a point system for a year-end award, culminating in an annual awards banquet every February in Freehold, NJ.

“At the National Show we hand out divisional winners, and people are awarded points,” Helene explained. “People can also send in points to our website from any show they attend—with varying points awarded for Standardbred only shows or when you show against other breeds.”

Classes have evolved as well over the years.

“One year we had a ‘battle of the breeds,’ between Standardbreds and Thoroughbreds,” Helene said. “We had seven classes between the two. So many clubs have come and gone over the years that we have to go with what we get in as far as suggestions or ideas for different classes. We even have horses who are still racing who also show.”

The SPHO-NJ relies heavily upon their sponsors, Helene stressed.

“We’ve had some tremendous sponsors over the years that really helped the show to grow,” she confirmed. “Bill Weaver helped us so much financially, and his family has continued to do so despite his passing. Purple Haze is one of our biggest supporters and as a result, we added a division for adoptable horses only. For those horses that went into the adoptable division only, we waved their entry and stall fee.”

Other top sponsors include the USTA, the Ferguson Family, Congress Hill Farm, Share A Horse, Inc., Freehold Raceway, Hunterton Farm, the Sam Landry Family, and Big Dees.

“Big Dees has a bonus bucks’ program, and the club is enrolled in that, and as a result, we get $5,000 in products per year, which also really helps out the show,” Helene noted.

Besides promoting, organizing, and running the National Standardbred Horse Show, the SPHO-NJ also offers horses and riders for promotions and parades.

“The Meadowlands and Yonkers have reached out to the organization in the past for us to lead the post parade at events such as the Breeders Crown and Hambletonian,” Helene said. “Our main goal is to promote the Standardbred breed—to push how Standardbreds can become show horses after their racing careers are over.”

In 2023, the National Standardbred Horse Show offered 339 classes. The show offers varying levels of sponsorship opportunities ranging from $50 up and beyond the $3,500 level. For more information, visit the SPHO-NJ website at SPHONJ.org/sponsorship, where you can download a form or send a payment in via Venmo, PayPal, or by credit card.

by Kimberly Rinker, for Harnesslink