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The Cheltenham starter surely the lowlight of the Festival

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  • #1401396
    Avatar photoEx RubyLight
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    He must be unemployed in every day’s life.
    Only has to work for about 30 seconds every 45 minutes and still sucks bigtime.
    Every year the same crap.

    #1401399
    Avatar photoGladiateur
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    Alternatively, it could be argued that the jockeys all know the rules but still let the occasion get to their heads and act like impetuous imbeciles.

    #1401404
    Avatar photoEx RubyLight
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    Right, but you can’t have it both ways. You either walk in or you line up standing. Something you never do during the week. But stop asking them to turn everytime a horse is inches ahead of the rest.
    And why does Ruby always have the right to start from the ‘pole’?

    #1401407
    Avatar photoNathan Hughes
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    What’s the odds for a false start here.?

    Blackbeard to conquer the World

    #1401408
    Avatar photoviktors89
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    AGAIN.

    #1401409
    Avatar photoNathan Hughes
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    hattrick

    Blackbeard to conquer the World

    #1401410
    LD73
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    Both of those races could have been started without them having to line up on the tape – he just waited too long and with the Arkle they were lined up fine and he took an extra 10-12s berating the jockeys before letting them go.

    Seems like he wants it absolutely perfect where all horses are walking in before letting them go and now he has just done it again, a few jig jogging but nothing out of control but no that is not good enough – think he wants his 15mins of fame.

    #1401411
    Avatar photoBigG
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    WTF!! :wacko: surely he could have let them go in the Ultima

    #1401418
    Avatar photopeter .h
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    Robbie Supple has consistently been a fussy, pain in the arse of a starter. I wrince every time he’s on his podium for the Grand National meeting. Simon Morant never had these problems.

    #1401419
    Avatar photoGingertipster
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    No. Jockeys are allowed to walk in, not jog in. It was obvious the starter couldn’t let them go there. Indeed, the starter made the right decision to call it off early – otherwise they’d have broke the tape.

    When there are so many horses running their best races from at or near the front, the start is all important. Feel sorry for the jockeys though; once one jockey breaks in to a trot others on prominent runners have no option but to do the same.

    Value Is Everything
    #1401421
    thewexfordman
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    There is no need for a tape to start a race, a strip of cut grass across the start line or a white line along the ground is more than adequate. The tape only complicates things particularly with the chance of horses getting caught in it

    #1401473
    Avatar photoviktors89
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    What a joke.

    #1401480
    LD73
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    The problem was he was letting them get far too near to the start before making a decision – pretty much every day you see races where the starter has let them go and they are about 20 yrds away from the tape and horses are jig jogging to boot and there is no problem.

    He made a right meal out of it for no good reason and it could have been easily avoided with an application of a bit of common sense, which starters seem to use every other day of the week without much issue.

    #1401779
    Avatar photoEx RubyLight
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    Great start in the QM. Nico and connections still don’t understand why they were allowed a 5 length start.

    #1401780
    greenasgrass
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    Yep…if you insist that a bunch of novice hurdlers form a perfectly straight line then you ought to expect a few champion chasers to do so.

    #1401787
    Avatar photoGingertipster
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    Saint Calvados was always going from the front.

    Hells Kitchen can front run, but when he sees the front is rank, therefore with another confirmed front runner in SC, HK would’ve undoubtedly been too free if ridden prominently. Obviously the reason he was dropped out (more cover the better).

    Min has occasionally been ridden prominently but mostly races mid-div/held up these days… And connections probably thought the easiest way to beat Altior is by letting him idle and try to outspeed him. Those tactics looked to be paying off for the likes of Sceau Royal and Politologue but unfortunately Min did not show his form.

    Sceau Royal is always held up, ditto Castlegrace Paddy.

    Ordinary World always dropped out the back.

    Gods Own usually held up and never fron runs.

    Had jockeys of the above tried to get away with Saint Calvados they’d risk being too free/not in the best position for their own mounts.

    Altior is versatile sometimes prominent and sometimes in mid-div.

    Recently, Politologue has been ridden further back when racing over further, has often been ridden more prominently (although doesn’t lead) at 2m and suspect the plan was to follow Saint Calvados. However, looking at the start it’s evident he took a couple of seconds in responding to Cobden.

    …Therefore all bar Altior’s and Politologue’s jockeys were waiting.
    So unlike the vast majority of races at this meeting there was no pressure on the start… and in those circumstances the front/prominent duo often get a few lengths lead… and Politologue’s slow reactions exaggerated the situation.

    To blame the starter is completely wrong; it’s all about how each horse likes to be ridden. When there’s a lot of front/prominent runners you can get a false start. When only one wants to lead and only one or two race prominently then you can get a couple getting a few lengths lead purely because jockeys are doing what’s best for their particular mount.

    Value Is Everything
    #1401790
    greenasgrass
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    I’m not blaming the starter for the result GT- I said on the QMCC thread it didn’t make a difference (for the reasons you state). Nor do I blame him for calling false starts though I think he could be a bit less fussy about the straightness of the line when a big field of novices are walking in.

    It’s just about consistency- if application of the rules isn’t consistent then it makes a bit of a mockery of them. And also, as Joe often points out, public perception. Everyone here understands your explanation but the casual punter, racegoer or viewer who sees that Altior gets a 5 length headstart on Politologue and beats him by less than 2 lengths does the sum 5-2 in their head and gets pissed off if they’ve backed the nice looking grey horse.

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