Finally the ugly ducklings of the harness racing world at starting to see some love.

For decades stakes for trotters have lagged embarrassing far behind the money the best pacers race for but slowly the gap is closing, with increases to some of the biggest trotting races in the country this week.

The most telling improvement is in the stake for the three trotting Jewels, which all increase from $100,000 to $125,000 for next season, putting them only $25,000 behind the pacing Jewels.

While the trotters Jewels races at still open sex, whereas each pacing age group has separate Jewels for either sex, the stakes gap between the two gaits is now small compared with other group one races.

In the last decade in particular races like the Inter Dominion, NZ Cup and Miracle Mile have been enormously higher than their trotting equivalents, with trotting fans even more infuriated when the Inter Dominion trotting series was dropped all together for no good reason.

But Addington have added further respectability to the trotting ranks with the Dominion to be run at Addington in November rising from $260,000 to $300,000 for this year, making it the richest trot in New Zealand.

That continues the recent improvements in trotting only stakes, with the NZ Trot Champs going from $80,000 to $100,000, as will the Northern Trotting Derby next term while the $100,000 Anzac Cup at Alexandra Park in still a relatively new race.

 The A$300,000 Great Southern Star at Melton has raised the bar across the Tasman, where the Breeders Crown has also seen the trotting divisions split into males and females.

 “We think the trotters deserve a boost in stakes for the Jewels,” says HRNZ boss Edward Rennell.

“We would love to raise the pacers too and hope to in the future we will.”

 While the elite trotters like Monbet and Speeding Spur --- both returning next season from injury --- will have some big-money targets, the lot of the lower grade trotters has also never been better.

 With Alexandra Park moving to $12,000 minimum stakes next season and Addington to $10,000, trotters who race at the two premier tracks will go their entire careers without having to race for less than five-figures

 Which makes them some of the best value horseflesh in New Zealand as trotting-bred yearlings average around $20,000 at the sales, with only a handful each year fetching more than $50,000. And even going competitive racehorses can be bought for $20,000.

 The closing of the gap will please enthusiasts of the squaregaiter, whose love of the gait is only matched by the near zealot-like devotion of galloping’s jumps racing fraternity.

Their love of the gait is understandable, as for decades our elite trotters have won hearts in no small part because of their durability and how often punters are able to see them.

 Horses like Lyell Creek, Take A Moment, I Can Doosit, Pride Of Petite and more lately Monbet have been world class, the latter in particular boosting the French blood through his sire Love You needed to bring the New Zealand breed into the 21st century.

 Trotting stakes still have some way to go, with three-year-old Enghien winning nine of 10 races this season and almost every one that matters at the top end but still only bagging a respectable $234,041.

 That tally could go well past $300,000 should he win the Victoria Trot Derby and Breeders Crown next month, when he will still be a three-year-old until September (long story, don’t ask).

 That at least compares favourably to the $481,055 Spanish Armada won as New Zealand’s highest stake earning three-year-old pacer this season, with Vincent the highest earner male three-year-old pacer with $418,316, much of that in Australia.

 But the real boost for the trotting gait has come at the lowest end of the scale, where they have been a godsend for Alexandra Park, who often card full field maiden and one-win trots while the track is struggling for turnover-driving numbers.

“The trotters have been huge for us and not long ago we had a meeting where we had almost as many trotters racing as pacers,” said ATC racing boss Regan Cotter.

“And those numbers should only keep getting better with the new minimum stakes.”