Race 3 Addington

[MTH 12]

What a disgrace, stand half the field down to trials until they can actually learn to stand and step. Or bring in starting gates .

And refund the punter, what a shambles

[globederby12 1,495]

What a disgrace, stand half the field down to trials until they can actually learn to stand and step. Or bring in starting gates .

And refund the punter, what a shambles

I happened to watch that myself. What I would like to know is why the supposed late scratching was allowed to take part in the race ,tacking on after the race got under way. Even Mark McNamara was bamboozled.

Disgrace is an understatement

[lestom 25]

Having late scratching Brookside Colt going around amongst the field just added to the farcical nature of this race.

[Thejanitor 1,220]

Having late scratching Brookside Colt going around amongst the field just added to the farcical nature of this race.

 

Another P. Lamb special     

[cantab matt 134]

One word..... Farce.

Wish it was a one off but seems to be a regular occurrence in canterbury region...........

[craigosz 287]

Whilst this has been discussed before SURELY harness nz has to start looking @ mobiles only.

[Jazz 62]

Would think one (or more) things needs to be implemented to improve the chances of horses getting away cleanly. Too many denied a fair start, ruining confidence of punters and horses alike.

As mentioned above send repeat offenders back to trial - give a clear message to connections that horses that repeatedly piss about at the start won't be tolerated in ss tote events. Wound up horses that knock over others or go through the tapes sent to outside of back markers - making the entire field stand for ages waiting for one (that seldom settles) frequently results in others getting fractious and breaking away.

&/or

Employ the walk-up/rolling starts that're used more in Oz. Not really in the spirit of a true standing start but the status quo isn't really working either so maybe time to try? Perhaps as horses go up the grades the true stand requirement could be enforced more.

&/or Starters assistants .... Appreciate its not easy and probably often a thankless task but if they need to aid a horse common sense must be a prerequisite. Standing in front of horses, holding on for too long, turning horses away on release, getting in the way in general.... might be wrong but from the sideline it looks like a lot of issues are exacerbated by people in the wrong place at the wrong time or doing strange things. If not from a clean dispatch perspective then from a health & safety one - it's only a matter of time before someone gets absolutely cleaned up and seriously hurt which nobody wants and isn't a good look for the industry.

&/or Starter.... Riiiiight..... Communication is key and needs to be able to hear what the assistants and drivers are saying. Now that the starter is also a stipe do drivers and connections have the same ability to question the start without repercussion? (Not trying to suggest that isn't the case but merely curious)

[lestom 25]

it's only a matter of time before someone gets absolutely cleaned up and seriously hurt which nobody wants and isn't a good look for the industry.

 

 

Blinks is made of extremely stern stuff.

[Jazz 62]

I see the two horses that botched the start in this have been asked to trial which is good.

[what a post 811]

The problem with any standing start is each horse has a limit to the time  it will stand and seeing others around them get hyped up effects each horse in different ways. Sometimes situations develop where, with delays, things are never going to look tidy.    As for Brookside Colt following the field round.    I thought this was the most sensible thing for the  starter and driver to do.  It made no sense for the starter to send 2 of his assistants away from the start when others at the start needed assistance and if you've driven a horse who has worked its self up like brookside colt had you would realise the safest approach was to keep the horse going forward so some control could be had over its movements.

[JackSprat 947]

Rubbish. He had no business coming back towards the start after he'd been scratched. He should have stayed 100m away, and trotted up the straight, and back to the stables once the field were under way.

 

Both the starter and the driver should have been reprimanded for treating a race day as a trial day.

[Johnevans 71]

The standing starts are getting worse and worse. Years ago the old trainers, you know, the true horsemen back in the day brought up with draught horses? Yeah well they would hack the horses round their farms and the roads.

 

When Jack Smolenski passed away trackside showed an old clip of him in his heyday and one thing I noticed was they showed a race he won at Motukarara in typical Jack Smolenski fashion, first out, take the trail and take the win. But there were something like 20 horses and they all lined up perfectly and it was a proper stand.

 

In saying all this I know that Paul Nairn works his horses round the roads and you'd think that this one would do the same so this was a bit freaky too.

 

His horse should've been taken out earlier though. I'm sure I wouldn't get as much leniency from Mr Lamb.

 

But also, is it fair to stand down another horse which they did after all of that? There should be leniency(new favourite word) for all horses outside of the original trouble maker.

 

And Jazz Maate don't have canaries over it. The world isn't ending.