Harness 5000

Harness 5000

Twelve Listed races. $480,000 in stakes. Black type for every horse that hits the board.

The Harness 5000 returns to Ashburton on Sunday 6 December 2026, and it is still the only day on the calendar built entirely around the stallions most breeders actually use. Twelve races, $40,000 apiece, a dress rug and a trophy, and every one of them Listed.

Listed is the word that matters here. Black type does not retire with the horse. It sits on the page, on the dam's produce record, and in every catalogue that family turns up in from now on. Twelve Listed races in an afternoon is the biggest single injection of black type available anywhere in the country to horses bred off a $5,000 service fee.

The first running made the case better than any argument could. Nine of the twelve races went to breeder-owners, people who bred the horse, raced the horse and led it back in. Terror To Love left three winners on the day on his own. For almost every winner it was the first black type of their careers, and their dams picked it up with them.

There is nothing to pay. No nomination, no series levy, no early entry. Eligibility comes down to breeding and racing: the mare was served in New Zealand off a published service fee of $5,000 or less excluding GST, the horse was first registered here, and it has put the starts in. Eight for a three year old, twelve for a four year old or older, inside the qualifying period. Each field of fourteen is then taken on accumulated stake earnings from 1 January 2026 to 22 November, so every cheque between now and late spring counts.

HRNZ has drawn a line at the top end as well. Any horse that has won a race worth $100,000 or more this season or last is out, which keeps these races for the horses they were written for. Australian trained horses meeting the same criteria can qualify.

HRNZ has committed to the series for five seasons, through to 2029. That is long enough to breed for, and it is why the table below is worth a look before you finalise a mating.

Where things sit right now. HRNZ publishes a live order of entry for all twelve races, ranked on qualifying stakes, with each horse marked eligible or short of starts. If you have something in the mix, that is the page to watch between now and 22 November. The full terms and conditions are worth a read too, particularly the exclusions and the field selection criteria. Both are linked below.

Use the table to check any stallion and see exactly which of its crops are eligible. Filter by gait, search by name, or click a season to see every stallion eligible for that crop.

What to do now

Check what your mare is holding. Log in to My HRNZ, or get in touch and we will look it up for you. If she has a balance, the decision worth making this spring is which mating you intend to spend it on. The claim window closes at the end of February 2028, and that realistically means the 2026/27 or 2027/28 seasons.

The full terms and conditions and an owner FAQ covering the pause in detail are linked below. If your circumstances are not covered there, or the paperwork does not quite line up, contact Cameron Kirkwood at HRNZ on [email protected] or Brad Reid at NZSBA on [email protected] before you submit. There is usually a workable answer.

Eligible Stallions Table