- This topic has 16 replies, 12 voices, and was last updated 2 years ago by
.
- Posts
It is behind the Post’s pay wall so I cannot see all the details but the figures show that two thirds of races in Britain last year started late.
Why is this happening and can anything be done about it?
I appreciate British horses are not trained at the track and are not as familiar with the stalls as American horses – but should British trainers get better at schooling?
And if so many races are late off, it must involve the jumps as well as the Flat. Why are so many jumps races late off, when stalls are obviously not an issue?
Some tracks seem to make little or no effort to get races off on time. There was a meeting at Kempton recently where a race was delayed but the time was not made up for the rest of the night.
With so much racing now, it matters to get races off on time to avoid clashes.
Looking at the two tables, one flat and one jumps the top 11 on the flat who have the best record are all Irish. Ayr and Lingfield are right near the bottom being the worst record under both codes.
The more I know the less I understand.
As someone that still goes racing fairly regularly, I’d say that one reason why it’s getting worse, is trainers being allowed to saddle their horses in the racecourse stables. This didn’t used to happen unless the trainer had obtained permission from the stewards, which was rarely granted. Now it’s a free for all, to the point that the pre parade ring is often deserted prior to a race.
At Kempton, the stables are a long walk from the paddock and the weighing room, then there’s another lengthy walk from the paddock to the track.
A second factor is the habit of jockeys to ease their mount to a walk for large parts of the journey to the start – especially in races on a straight course. But also for longer races at tracks such as Epsom, Goodwood and Newmarket. Senior jockeys do it, the others follow their example and they can all see that nothing is done to disocurage their behaviour.
I have noticed that, particularly at Goodwood and Epsom. Why do they have to walk? Is it something to do with the terrain, as both are downland courses?
They need a flags person at the start, if the flag is waved and you ain’t there then you ain’t running and the trainer will be fined.
The more I know the less I understand.
I’ve noticed in the past that quite a few races are late off because they are waiting for a race elsewhere to finish.
Charles Darwin to conquer the World
What was the point of these silly race times eg 4.17, 2.59 3.33 etc? Made no difference.
To take the positives, this means a third of races are starting on time.
I am "The Horse Racing Punter" on Facebook
https://mobile.twitter.com/Ian_Davies_
https://www.facebook.com/ThePointtoPointNHandFlatracingpunter/
It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"It just needs stronger enforcement of existing rules – if a third are off to time then it clearly means they are doing it right and therefore (outside of a horse throwing a plate or an accident) there is no excuse.
How many times have we seen a genuine incident that has caused a big delay to a race by 10-20mins and yet by the last race most (if not all) of the time lost has been made up…it shows it can be done not only to time but even the whole process can be speeded up when having to play catch up.
At the end of the day whatever time is alotted for horses to be (saddled and walked to the paddock, jocked up and then cantered down to the start, girths checked and then the race started)…..they should be either held to that strict timescale or they get the whole process started earlier, even if that means they are at the start well ahead of the time of the race…..they can just as easily all mill around for a few more minutes to waste time but at least they will be at the start ready to go at the scheduled off time.
“I appreciate British horses are not trained at the track and are not as familiar with the stalls as American horses – but should British trainers get better at schooling?”
Unfortunately the announced post times for American races are also just a suggestion.
Three meetings today. Would start times of 1:00, 1:10 and 1:20, with races every half hour at each meeting, have been so difficult?
Glad – you are applying common sense logic to a problem and we all know that isn’t their strong point.
I think this is a storm in a tea cup. Unless I read the original story wrong, he was talking
about races that didn’t go off within a minute of their allocated time. 1 Min ??? You try
pushing half a ton of horseflesh into a stall when it’s got it’s front legs straight out trying
it’s damned best not to enter the stall. Or a NH awkward B who flips round at the start or throws
it’s jockey on the way down. Things happen. It strikes me like it’s one of these weeks when the
editor says, the weather is crap, half the racing is abandoned, FFS get something to fill some
space. But then again, that’s just me .Fair point but what about all the other races where none of that happens and yet they still can’t get a race off to time…..it wouldn’t be an issue if the race times were more strongly adhered to or better staggered or they were at the start a few more minutes earlier than necessary to allow for the things you stated that can happen.
On very busy days with multiple number of meetings (too many in most cases this side of the water) going off over a minute late will impact other meetings and then that leads to some courses delaying their start while another late off races finish, which then has a knock on effect.
Like I said before there are times when serious delays happen (injuries and what not) and they are quite capable of making up a lot of ‘lost’ time when it is needed, which indicates at times a slackness in ensuring that things run to time ordinarily.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.