Whether dealing with the human race or Standardbreds, when it comes to women’s rights the battle is never ending and it can certainly be argued that the equine variety of females are way behind the curve. As a father of two daughters, it is not lost on me that women only got the right to vote in the United States about 100 years ago. While things have certainly improved over time, depending on the source, women still only make 80-85% of what men make in the working world. Whether our society will reach the finish line of equal pay regardless of sex is unknown, but it is worth pointing out that we are well ahead of the racing world when it comes to equal pay for equal performance of our on-track athletes. Almost regardless of track, event, or breed, fillies and mares race for less money than colts and horses. Of course, in many cases our female performers have the option of taking on the boys for higher purses, but should they need to do that for the opportunity to earn an equal amount of money? Before proceeding, let’s looks at the purse evidence with a few examples. The Hambletonian goes for $1,000,000 and the Hambletonian Oaks checks in 50% less at $500,000. Last year’s Little Brown Jug offered a final purse of $525,000 while the Jugette female companion race had a $310,000 prize (41% less). The Yonkers Trot went for $300,000 in 2025 while the NY NY Mile for the girls had a total purse (race was contested in divisions) of $120,000 (60% less). The Breeders Crown Mare Pace went for $400,000 in 2024 while the Open division had a $600,000 purse (33% less). ► Sign up for our FREE DRF Harness Digest Newsletter To be fair, there are many races where the purses are more comparable. The Breeders Crown races for 2- and 3-year-olds are identical for both sexes. The main divisions of the Delmonica Hanover and James Lynch ($250,000) at Pocono Downs come close to the boys’ races – Max Hempt and Early Beal ($300,000). In fact, the 16% reduction in purse for the Pocono female races falls exactly in line with the national average for women vs. men mentioned earlier. “It all goes into a Breeders Crown fund and we set the purses based on what that fund is,” said Hambletonian Society President and CEO John Campbell on how the Breeders Crown purses are structured and why the freshmen and sophomore boys and girls race for the same money. “There is a Breeders Crown committee made up of board members who determine that. We meet a couple of times a year and determine what the purses will be. They’ve been pretty equal in terms of the fillies for 2- and 3-year-olds for quite a long time. “The Open Mare Trot and Pace went for $250,000 not that long ago and we got them up to $400,000. When we had extra dollars for the Breeders Crown we certainly looked at the mares and thought they deserved a raise.” Earning discrepancy is certainly not limited to racing. With basketball, WNBA players earn far less than NBA players, but there is no denying that one league has been around much longer and its current earning power in terms of media and sales is way higher. Meanwhile, there really is no difference between male and female horses on the track. They both perform the same task and race in front of the same number of fans and bettors. Again, the argument can be made that a 3-year-old filly trotter could try her luck against the boys in the Hambletonian. It has happened a number of times and in the last decade alone we’ve seen some successes – Atlanta (2018) and Ramona Hill (2020). The question is whether that should be necessary for them to earn the same amount of money. You could also argue that when a filly enters the Hambletonian and wins it takes away a potential stallion career from a male that would’ve won the race. “We are very cognizant of the hype created by a filly racing against the boys and see the benefit of having the purse for the Open division higher to provide that attraction for a filly to take a shot,” said Campbell, who disagreed with the notion that it takes away an opportunity for a colt to get a statement win. “If the colt is good enough he should beat the filly and even if he doesn’t there is ample opportunity for him to win other major races.” Not to say that nominations should be the sole determiner of final purse, but there were actually more fillies (98) eligible to the Oaks than colts and geldings for the Hambletonian (95) in 2025. Fillies do pay lower sustaining and entrance fees for the Oaks than the Hambletonian ($8,750 vs. $17,500). Certainly they would be willing to pay the full amount if they were racing for $1,000,000, right? Using 2025 numbers, with 98 eligible and 23 entering the eliminations that would create another $295,000 for the purse (98 x $1,250 + 23 x $7,500), making it in theory a $795,000 final with the current added money. That’s still a big gap from the million-dollar mark and Campbell said it all comes down to that added money. “There is $300,000 added to the fillies division and $600,000 to the open division from the track. Those are rough numbers. It varies depending on payments. It is all about the added money to make it equitable,” said Campbell, who agreed that having both races at $1,000,000 or higher would be nice. “In a perfect world the fillies would go for as much as the colts, but in the economic model we have I just don’t see it happening.” Going back to the MGM Yonkers Trot/NY NY Mile mentioned above, it also costs twice as much to get into the open division versus the race solely for fillies. The total additional cost is $2,150 and if the fillies paid that amount there would be about another $100,000 available, bringing the total purse to $220,000. Again, making the fillies second-class citizens racing for $80,000 less than the colts. What’s really interesting is when you compare the value of male and female horses at the yearling sales. You would think that the boys would sell for much more, but they don’t. At the two largest Standardbred yearling sales – Lexington Selected Sale and Standardbred Horse Sale – during the last two years (2023 and 2024), fillies have outsold the boys by a small margin of $103.5 million to $102.9 million, or $617,500 total. If the girls are more valuable at auction, why aren’t they at least as valuable on the track? “All horses should race for the same purses and same staking,” said two-time Hambletonian-winning trainer Nancy Takter. “It costs the same to train them and often fillies cost more at the sale.” We’ve mentioned a number of individual races but consider this fact: In 2024, 3-year-old males raced for approx. $1.7 million more in stakes money (Sire Stakes not included) on the trotting side and $2.7 million more on the pacing end. So our Standardbred 3-year-old fillies are competing for about 74% of what the males race for on a yearly basis. Certainly we can do better than that.