Breeders Crown Open Pace

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ClassGrade 1
LocationNorth America
Inaugurated1985
Race typeHarness race for Standardbred pacers
Breeders Crown Open Pace
ClassGrade 1
LocationNorth America
Inaugurated1985
Race typeHarness race for Standardbred pacers
Website
Race information
Distance1 mile
(1,609 metres or 8 furlongs)
SurfaceDirt
Qualification4-year-olds-and-up
Purse$600,000 (2025)

The Breeders Crown Open Pace is a Grade 1 harness racing event for Standardbred pacers. It is one part of the Breeders Crown annual series of twelve races for both Standardbred pacers and trotters. The Open Pace for horses age four and older was first run in 1985. It is contested over a distance of one mile. Race organizers have awarded the event to various racetracks across North America.[1]

At the Meadowlands Racetrack in 2009, Won The West set the Open Pace record time of 1:47 flat which was the fastest pacing mile in the entire Breeders Crown series until 2023.[2]

Bulldog Hanover, who had broken the record for the fastest ever mile time for a Standardbred previously in the season, broke the Breeders Crown record in the 2023 edition of the race. He went on to be the first unanimous Horse of the Year.

In 2025, Ervin Hanover set the stakes record while pacing the fastest mile in Canadian history.

North American locations

Track & Abbreviation -- State/Province -- times hosted

Records

Winners of the Breeders Crown Open Pace

References

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