The climax to Bermuda's harness racing season takes place this weekend with interest in the sport, both on and off the track, at an all-time high.

Vesey Street in Devonshire is the location for the Driving Horse and Pony Club Champion of Champions meet which takes place tomorrow and Sunday.

Sponsored by GL Construction and Port O'Cal Restaurant, the nine ponies with the fastest times over the year will race two heats tomorrow to decide positions for Sunday's main event. Prizes will be presented by the Minister of Youth and Sport, Dennis Lister.

Club president David Lopes said: "The ponies with the three fastest times will go in the championship flight, the next three will go in a reserve and the next three in the consolation.

"On Sunday they will also race twice and that's how you pick the Champion of Champions.'' Harness racing features two disciplines, known as gaits -- the trotting gait is a natural gait and the pacing gait is man-made.

Pacers have two legs on one side moving simultaneously and they are faster than the trotters.

Lopes said: "This year because we have three trotters that are pretty close together as far as ability is concerned we have also added a Champion of Champion for Trotters.

"For Bermuda that is new because we have only had one trotter and now we have three and they are all fairly competitive, either one can beat the others.'' Crowds are on the up and up at the track, especially since floodlights were introduced and events were switched to a Saturday night, and the number of entrants is now averaging around 40 per meet.

With that in mind Lopes said thought was being given to altering the way the season is currently run.

"This is the close of the season, unfortunately the weather is getting a little better and people are really getting into it.

"They are kind of concerned saying `How come you are closing down already?'.

But a lot of these ponies have been in training since July, so they really need a little break,'' he said.

"But now we have the lights we may have to give some consideration to changing the season a little bit so that we do race in the not too hot part of the summer, say May, June or July.'' Lopes said this would not necessarily mean increasing the number of meetings.

"I don't think it would be an extension to the season, I think we would have to split it in two and race say November, December and January, quit on New Year's Day and take a break until May. Then right after the agricultural exhibition kick in again and do May, June and part of July,'' he said.

Other plans included looking at increasing the size of the arena, although Lopes said a number of obstacles would have to be overcome first.

"We would like to get a bigger race track. But the environmentalists don't want us to go west and it's going to be difficult to go east, we can't go north because there is a golf course there and we can't go south because there's the Devonshire Marsh,'' Lopes said.

"I would like to see the track enlarged a little bit. I think maybe the plan to enlarge it before through the Bermuda Equestrian Federation was somewhat grandiose. Maybe we could tone it tone it down a little bit and get a quarter of a mile track in there and maybe everybody would be happy with that.

"But in the meantime you have to go with what you have got. If you want to race you have to race on a fifth of a mile track.'' For now though eyes, both home and abroad, are focused on the weekend.

"I understand there are some people coming from overseas. Whether they race or not will be down to the individual owners, but I understand the president of the International Trotting and Pacing Association, Bill Beechy, is coming in from Indiana and Eddie Rowe is coming from Florida,'' he said.

"Also from Canada we have Michel Allard, who races in Quebec and is sort of the overseer of harness racing in Canada. He has been here several times before and he knows a lot of the guys and some of the ponies have come either from or through Michel Allard.'' Lopes said he expected the times to be fast as they had proved to be all year.

"Only three countries race trotting bred ponies -- United States, Canada and Bermuda. The race tracks over there have 1:30 and slower and 1:40 and slower and our slowest time is 1:16 and slower. So this type of speed is phenomenal for the type of track that we have,'' he said.

Lopes said the times were not only testament to the way the track was maintained but also to the time and effort owners had put into their animals.

"It speaks highly of the locals. People go away and they want to buy the best, Bermudians don't settle for second best,'' he said.

Denying the sport was just for the well off, Lopes added: "A lot of these guys are ordinary working people who need to sacrifice something or do little hustles and odd jobs in order to support their sport.'' The Champion of Champions event starts at 12 noon tomorrow and Sunday and entry is $5 for adults, $3 for senior citizens and accompanied children are admitted free. You can dial the hotline 291-RACE for racing updates and the club also has a presence on the internet at www.trottingbred.com.

Pony power: High speed action at Vesey Street like that expected this weekend.