HRP-blogi is a Finnish harness racing enthusiast’s blog where he writes about harness racing and its phenomenons in Finland and other countries. He also makes quite accurate statistics from young horses’ preliminaries.

This is called opetuslähtö, a “training race” strictly translated. The goal is to encourage the owners to bring their horses to professional training already at young age and the trainers to bring the horses to the tracks earlier. The time limits are 1.30-1.40 for the two-year old warmbloods, 1.50,0-2.00,0 for the three-year-old finnhorses and 2.00-2.20,0 for the two-year-olds from 1st of September 2011 onwards. The horse receives a prize for trotting between those time boundaries, no other prizes are paid and this does not count in the horse’s winnings and is not count as an official start.

Before attending to official races, the horse has to attend another preliminary race, koelähtö in Finnish (strictly translated “test race”), in which the speed is faster. In this the horse shows that it is fit enough to race and is schooled to behave on the track. One preliminary is valid for eight months and if there are no races in between, the horse has to perform another preliminary to qualify again. The age limits are the same as in all races, wb 2-14 yrs and finnhorses 3-16 yrs.

These are the brief statistics from 2010. You can see the full statistics here and follow the statitics of 2011 here (tip: mares are highlighted with red. It took me a while to figure that out…).

Sires Top 20 by amount

Sire name	Preliminaries	Age-class 2007	%
A.T. Eko	36	74	48.65
Viesker	28	79	35.44
Turo	22	66	33.33
Sipori	18	34	52.94
Saran Salama	16	52	30.77
Apassi	14	41	34.15
Hovi-Ari	14	37	37.84
Liising	14	36	38.89
Totemi Rok	13	48	27.08
Cameron	11	15	73.33
K.M. Nopsa	7	19	36.84
Jänkä-Jussi	6	14	42.86
I.P. Viikari	5	14	35.71
Tuisku-Topi	5	16	31.25
Poika-Siro	4	16	25.00
Ramiini	4	13	30.77
Suikun Ero	4	29	13.79
Tino	4	5	80.00
Ventterin Vili	4	15	26.67
Luomus Jr	3	17	17.65
Rallaus	3	14	21.43
Romeo Lax	3	9	33.33
Taikuri	3	5	60.00
Teme	3	10	30.00
Tume	3	9	33.33
Turon Loppi	3	9	33.33

Sires Top 20 by percentage

Sire name	Preliminaries	Age-class 2007	%
Cameron	11	15	73.33
Sipori	18	34	52.94
A.T. Eko	36	74	48.65
Jänkä-Jussi	6	14	42.86
Liising	14	36	38.89
Hovi-Ari	14	37	37.84
K.M. Nopsa	7	19	36.84
I.P. Viikari	5	14	35.71
Viesker	28	79	35.44
Apassi	14	41	34.15
Turo	22	66	33.33
Tuisku-Topi	5	16	31.25
Ramiini	4	13	30.77
Saran Salama	16	52	30.77
Teme	3	10	30.00
Totemi Rok	13	48	27.08
Ventterin Vili	4	15	26.67
Poika-Siro	4	16	25.00
Rallaus	3	14	21.43
Tähti-Tili	2	10	20.00

Dam’s sires top 20 by amount

Name	Age-class 2007
Vokker	26
Suikku	22
Kihin-Muisto	20
Turo	17
Patrik	14
Viesker	11
Vokkerilla	10
Suikun Ero	9
Vinkaus	8
Viltter	7
Ero-Ponsi	6
Mikker	6
Ponseri	6
Pysteri	6
Kihin Hiski	5
V.T. Ajatus	5
Ruutu-Poika	4
Fabian	3
Jaanen Suikku	3
K.K. Kössi	3
Luomus Jr	3
Toto	3
Valpurin-Vesa	3
Vika-Pisto	3