Back in 1988, harness racing started at Vesey Street with a mere 12 racing ponies and only a handful of committed enthusiasts.

What a difference 15 years has made.

Today, the highly popular weekly meets attract up to 65 competing ponies and a plethora of skilled drivers both young and old.

Indeed, as the President of the Driving Horse and Pony Club Charles Whited Jr. admitted yesterday at the thriving Boxing Day Stake Races, the sport is close to saturation point.

With room for only four competitors per heat, Vesey Street is by far the smallest harness racing track in the world and will shortly struggle to cope with demand at the current rate of growth.

"Unfortunately, we are becoming the victims of our own success," he said.

"We would like to enlarge our facility so that we can race more than four ponies at a time. Our aim would be to race eight to ten ponies per heat but in order to do that we have to restructure the existing track."

The amount of land required for this "restructuring" is only a matter of a few metres the Pony Club president said.

But the track itself is surrounded on all sides by property owned by the National Trust, making the issue of enlargement a potentially sensitive one.

Whited, however, adopted a diplomatic stance.

"We do not want to step on the toes of the National Trust and we support and approve what they do," he said.

"We are in discussions now with the President of the Bermuda Equestrian Association, Michael Cherry, in order to put together a package to present to the National Trust for review.

"If we can work something out with the National Trust then we can then go and sit down with government.

"We are very keen to work with them to try and find a solution."

Whited did say, however, that he was "confident" a compromise could be thrashed out, principally because the amount of land they will be asking for is "very small".

Though he is not willing to push the issue, there can be no doubt that he views a bigger track as the key to the sports' future prosperity and development.

As it stands, the track is not recognised by the International Trotting and Pacing Association in the United States, a situation Whited described as "frustrating".

"We are setting world records here in Bermuda almost weekly and it is very unfortunate that we do not have a big enough track here to have those times officially recognised," he said.

"We are producing the fastest times in the world right now and officials in America have been calling on us to grow so that they can recognise us as an official ITPA track.

"The calibre of our ponies and the level of driving in Bermuda is second to none and we work very hard to maintain those standards. But in order to take it to the next level we need a bigger facility desperately."

Whited argued however that despite their size handicap, his club is still "making the best of what is available".

"We are carrying on the local tradition here and providing entertainment for the whole family," he said.

"Every year we get at least four or five new drivers and this year we implemented a new junior racing programme which is very exciting and we are very happy and proud of it.

"But we are thinking long term and we realise that we have to take action now so the sport does not sit still."