The Standardbred Association Queensland provides owners who are SAQ Members of pleasure Standardbreds with the opportunity to register their horses for non-racing equestrian disciplines. Often when horses start their non-racing competition careers owners do not have the horse’s Harness Racing Australia (HRA) registration papers.  This is often because the original owners do not want their horses to race again and therefore they do not pass on the horse’s papers.

For a horse that is unnamed with Harness Racing Australia, you can apply for a name through the registration process.  You will not be able to use the same name of a horse already registered with HRA – Check HRA OnLine for name availability.  If a SAQ registered and named horse is found to have the same name as a horse registered with HRA, the name will need to be changed.

In summary, the process is as follows:

1. Complete the SAQ Membership Application if you are not already a member.
2. Complete ALL of the horse information on the registration form. Include the freezebrand or racing name of the horse, you can find this information at www.harness.org.au/hra.cfm
3. If you are registering an unnamed horse, please provide 5 alternative names in order of preference. While SAQ allows registration with your choice of name, the name cannot be the same as that of a horse already registered with HRA or SAQ.
4. Please provide the required photographs of your horse, without saddlery or harness.
5. Partbred and Unbranded Purebred Standardbreds require additional DNA testing to substantiate their bloodlines. Once the SAQ recieves your application forms, the SAQ Horse Registrar will contact you to arrange DNA sampling in accordance with SAQ requirements.

For full details on how to register and to download the application forms, please click here.