thrillsnspills 36 Report post Posted August 22, 2020 I see Auckland has a new screen that can be seen from the moon and I bet that didn't come cheap but we still use a tape to start trotters surely we can come up with a better way of starting .Most of them are well behaved so why have it ? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
eljay 1,711 Report post Posted August 22, 2020 OK thrillsnspills - here's a task for you. Devise a system that can handicap the horses without using a tape of some description. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikenz 1,070 Report post Posted August 23, 2020 Maybe they all start together but if ya horse is on a 15m handicap then it has to win by 15m to actually win. kilcoyne 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
eljay 1,711 Report post Posted August 23, 2020 No no no mikenz - we don't need any more variables that would surely involve the RIU & JCA. Could try starter with mike saying "Rigggggggght" with a red/green light overhead operated by starter at same time. Drivers would be able to both hear & see when race starts. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikenz 1,070 Report post Posted August 23, 2020 Another thing I've always wondered if the horses at home have livestrand in fences around home ,then may baulk at the starting tape.once an animal has a snap they will always be a bit tentative Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
tacula 10 Report post Posted August 23, 2020 Surely there could be a laser light that if activitated early signals a false start. drivers would be able to see, no sound or sharp movement. SURELY! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
thrillsnspills 36 Report post Posted August 23, 2020 I've always thought of laser or lights.Drivers know where they should be and starter and helpers stand on the mark so they know when you are over for god sake its not rocket science.Like really what dose the tape do absolutely bugger all apart from breakers that break it and then we piss around to have it reset, if you go over well you just come back then flash a green light same as mobile and we are off not bloody hard, But some wise owl ginn swigger would say ooo no we cant have that. ask Carbine god bless what he thought about tapes the 3 races he didn't get any money was all due to tape wrapping around his legs and that was hell 130 plus years ago and we still have it ha ha shit we are quick learners lamour and john legend 2 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nelli 426 Report post Posted August 24, 2020 Lights counting down like racing car starts might work and cope for both horses that need a 'moving' start as well as those good at standing. Patiti 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
eljay 1,711 Report post Posted August 24, 2020 If they were moving before the go then it not a standing start, is it!! Don't need a counting down just red to green - stop to go, surely. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taku Umanga 194 Report post Posted August 25, 2020 Make all starts mobile like the majority of the world maybe? Grego 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikenz 1,070 Report post Posted August 25, 2020 Why not just countdown starting at ten,if ya horse fucks it up then tough as long as it dont upset another. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
thrillsnspills 36 Report post Posted August 25, 2020 I'm saying dump the tape its such a archaic way of starting. In most cases horses are standing or so slightly moving forward have a green light then GO bloody dam simple, Starters are telling drivers move forward so you know your about to get the green light. We spend time to teach horses to stay away from tape then you go to races and there's a bloody tape right in your face, I no some will be saying ooo we have done it this way for years true but we also use to live in a cave but we don't anymore... well most of us. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
eljay 1,711 Report post Posted August 25, 2020 A bit like the bad workman blaming his tools!! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Overcheck 190 Report post Posted August 25, 2020 Still get plenty of breakers in the run up to the mobile starts, probably because the starter is hell bent on breaking the record for a vehicle reaching the start line. Standing starts have always had some breakers but now the main problem is the starter who has several ways of letting them go, none of which are fair to the whole field. This also gives some drivers a chance to try and out think the starter and get a flyer. The old starters didn't have all the trouble we see now because horses were made to STAND at the tape and drivers that tried to be smart were quickly bawled out. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
eljay 1,711 Report post Posted August 26, 2020 and the old trainers actually trained them to stand not to just line up and hope! napier 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
thrillsnspills 36 Report post Posted August 26, 2020 and the old trainers actually trained them to stand not to just line up and hope! Not quite the same nowadays as we have bred a more elegant trotter quicker better gaited but with that comes I wont say hot because they are not but I'll say far more on the toe to get on with it. If it was that easy as some would say then why have the unruly. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nelli 426 Report post Posted August 27, 2020 As an owner and breeder of trotters, I would love to see more mobile opportunities for trotters in the NI. Just like some pacers, some trotters will never be good from stands no matter how good the trainer. It can take months for a novice trotter to learn how to go away from a stand in a good-sized field with experienced horses behind: this is testing for horses, owners and punters (and expensive). And the horse doesn't learn much racecraft when 100 m behind. We don't do this to novice pacers or juveniles of either gait. Yes we do have fewer horses up here but surely we could have preferential mobile draws with 1 win R40s horses if field size is the issue. I'm not against standing starts - it just would be nice to have the occasional option for the speed trotters who could shine off the gate and show their true talents. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
eljay 1,711 Report post Posted August 27, 2020 Temporale on same terms as a first start maiden. 1-58 mile rate. Most of these maidens would not make open class, their will would have been well broken by then. The numbers are not there You dont see maiden pacers against the 1-50 All Stars Milers, do you. The only radical approach I can see for HRNZ to instigate, is to commission a report from a team of the best trotting educators into racing of the squaregaiters. Radical I say simply because it will never happen due to the attitude of the Industry Leaders who go by the philosophy "If I didn't think of it first it will be no good" and "No one tells us how to run the Industry" Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
thrillsnspills 36 Report post Posted August 28, 2020 I'm in the same camp as you NELLI, I'm in the NI when you are a owner trainer/breeder its hard to get them to go first start or even after 3 but by that time your getting a knock on the door saying last chance then what off to retrial/workout which you'll pass then back to races . what did you learn from that I say nothing as most of us totting people get the last dam race well I don't train at bloody midnight. You don't have 1 win pacers parked up your arse in a maiden pacing field.I to would like to see maiden mobile after all its not a standing start race. your right Eljay them gin swiggers aren't interested in common sense people, the ones that are paying all the bills. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
eljay 1,711 Report post Posted August 28, 2020 Look at the experise lost once Richard Brosnan emigrated - and when he was here no one in authority wanted to listen to him. I served on committees with Richard and value the knowledge i gained from him (and I wasn't even a trainer) Beggars belief of the suits that have run the Industry in the past, and I've seen nothing that has markedly shown any improvement since. There would be very few horsemen, especially in the north, who haven't been helped at some time during their career by him. I think the only suggestion he never made or supported was the administration of performance enhancing substances. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...