Metadata
WORK ID: YFA 5636 (Master Record)
| Title | Year | Date |
| SULKIES | 1970 | 1970-08-31 |
|
Details
Original Format: 16mm Colour: Colour Sound: Sound Duration: 6 mins 5 secs Subject: Sport Rural Life |
| Summary This short film shows a day at a trotting race. A jovially narrated commentary explains the history and practice of racing horses with sulkies, the single-seater carts seen in the film. |
|
Description
This short film shows a day at a trotting race. A jovially narrated commentary explains the history and practice of racing horses with sulkies, the single-seater carts seen in the film.
Title – Sulkies
Title – By J Eric Hall
The film opens with a trotting race in Brough, Cumbria. Horses pulling sulkies, or lightweight carts with a single seat for the rider, are raced around a track in a grassy field while crowds of spectators look on. A sign in a car window advertises Brough (Westmoreland)...
This short film shows a day at a trotting race. A jovially narrated commentary explains the history and practice of racing horses with sulkies, the single-seater carts seen in the film.
Title – Sulkies
Title – By J Eric Hall
The film opens with a trotting race in Brough, Cumbria. Horses pulling sulkies, or lightweight carts with a single seat for the rider, are raced around a track in a grassy field while crowds of spectators look on. A sign in a car window advertises Brough (Westmoreland) Athletic Sports Committee Annual Open Trotting Races, Monday, 31st August, 1970. The commentary observes that trotting was already flourishing in Britain 200 years ago, and that there are as many as 30 races each summer in the North Riding of Yorkshire.
Horse boxes are parked and the sulkies unloaded. The seat and wheels of one are shown, and the commentary explains that a sulky must be light and strong. A horse is walked out of its box while others have bridles fitted.
Bookmakers put up chalkboard signs to advertise the odds. They take bets and spectators line up along wooden fences around the track to watch the race.
A judge makes notes on a small pad as the horses go past and the commentary notes that 3 judges check the result of each race. Each jockey wears their own individual colours.
A young woman climbs into the seat of a sulky and rides onto the track, with the commentary observing that there is “always a good sprinkling of lady competitors”. People place further bets and queue up at a burger van for refreshments.
The film ends with a winner receiving a prize cup, as a sulky is seen to one side with a bent wheel and a woman unloads a pram from one of the trailers. The commentary notes jokily that it is always good to have a spare.
Title – The End
Context
This film was made by amateur filmmaker Eric Hall, Bradford resident and President of the Bradford Cine Circle. Bradford Cine Circle (now called Bradford Movie Makers) was founded in 1932 and is one of the oldest amateur filmmaking clubs in the UK. Mr Hall contributed his talents to the club throughout its formative years. His work dates back to a 1929 film, simply called Random Recordings, and he continued to make films up until the 1980s. As well as President of the Bradford Cine Circle, he...
This film was made by amateur filmmaker Eric Hall, Bradford resident and President of the Bradford Cine Circle. Bradford Cine Circle (now called Bradford Movie Makers) was founded in 1932 and is one of the oldest amateur filmmaking clubs in the UK. Mr Hall contributed his talents to the club throughout its formative years. His work dates back to a 1929 film, simply called Random Recordings, and he continued to make films up until the 1980s. As well as President of the Bradford Cine Circle, he was also chairman of the North East Region of the Institute of Amateur Cinematographers. A lot of his work was awarded and accredited by the IAC. He was bitten by the filmmaking bug when he was a schoolboy, saving up a whopping 20 shillings so he could buy Behind the Motion Picture Screen, a 1919 book written by Austin C. Lescarboura which would have been an invaluable resource to any potential filmmaker at that time. His lively and informative commentary heard on this film is a staple of Mr Hall’s work.
This film concerns a particular type of horseracing, known as Harness or ‘Sulky’ racing. What sets this sport apart from other horseracing is that the jockey rides on a harness (sulky) pulled by the horse. The jockey is suspended in a sitting position, with his legs hooked into the stirrups in front, and holds onto a rein to balance himself and to steer the horse. The name ‘sulky’ is thought to have come from the solitary nature of the position of the driver or jockey. Sulky racing has been a tradition in Britain since the mid eighteenth century, the first known recording of which was at Newmarket Heath in 1750. However, the practice of racing horses with a harness or chariot for sport can be traced as far back as 1500 BC to the ancient civilization of Assyria, which forms part of the modern day Middle East. Sulky racing also garnered a lot of popularity in North America after trade of British horses opened back up following the end of the revolutionary wars. The founding father of the harness breed, Messenger, was one of the very first English Thoroughbred Stallions to be imported into the newly formed United States. Harness races can be run with two different gaits, trotting or pacing. Trotting means that the horse moves its legs in diagonal pairs, and pacing means that the horse moves its legs laterally. Both types of races are just as popular today and are regularly run at dedicated racecourses across the United Kingdom. This particular racecourse near Appleby in Cumbria has a historical connection with Sulky racing. It has hosted Appleby Horse Fair since 1685. Today it is the biggest of its kind in Europe; consisting of week-long carnival celebrating gypsy and traveller culture as well as an opportunity for horse trading, selling and racing. It attracts thousands of visitors each year and continues the centuries-old traditions of sulky racing. References: Hoffman, Dean, Harness Racing in New York State: A History of Trotters, Tracks and Horsemen, History Press, 2012. All the fun of the horse fair: Appleby Horse Fair Harness racing Thoroughbreds |
