[QUOTE=Wellspotted;2831495]
I seem to remember one of the Triple Crown races in a recent year–one horse held up the start for several minutes (at least it seemed a long time) because he/she wouldn’t load.
Does anybody else remember this?[/QUOTE]
I think I remember this. I wanna say it was Rock Hard Ten, but I could be wrong. He used to be bad about loading, but he got better as he got older.
He also changed trainers between three and four. :winkgrin:
[QUOTE=Pronzini;2831886]
He also changed trainers between three and four. :winkgrin:[/QUOTE]
Yeah and that was a good call on the owner’s part. I was at the test barn after the preakness and the handler’s were scared half to death of the horse. He wasn’t even doing anything wrong. At one point they attempted to walk him into the wash stall and he planted his feet and refused to move. They did absolutely nothing to reprimand him or even to encourage him to go in. I must admit it took every fiber of my being not to rush over there and say “give me the damn horse” and make him march his ass in there! In the end they got special permission to take him outside for a bath so I did get to pet him, but I still think they are a bunch of weenies!
Wow—thanks for all the info on the pacing/trotting starts! The idea of a horse drawn gate is intriguing—how would that work?
Would love to see some mounted trotting/pacing races from Europe, but I don’t think they show them on TVG, do they? (unfortunately, we don’t get HRTV, so that’s not an option)
Am I remembering correctly that in an early 1970’s Ky Derby (not CanoneroII Riva Ridge, or Secretariat), that there were so many starters, that several did start on the outside of the gate? (Maybe I’m wrong,I was a kid then)
What I’ve seen is that they will hitch a second gate to the main one and load the horses in it. That’s all I ever remember seeing, and I’ve been watching the Derby most years since the '60s. But I, too, would like to know if anyone else remembers a Derby where they started some from outside the gate. They may have done so back then.
Some horses get permission to be backed in (loaded from the front of the gate). Most gate crews are excellent and really work with the horses. I used to love to go watch them schooling at the gate at Suffolk Downs - very patient and good with the horses. My husband, SIL and BIl break the babies to the starting gate here in Ocala, and it’s fun to watch. Most horses do well, but some do freak out (luckily none that we raised). Some tracks use the heavy blanket on some of the horses - it has been found that draping a blanket over the horse and loading him stops him from being freaked out about the gate itself. Just another area where things DO change and get better as people figure out what works best.
As for the trotting/pacing races, my husband was a professional driver and trainer for years before switching to flat races (he still drives occasionally when he gets an opportunity), and the gates and starts are fun to watch. There’s a real art to it and the drivers have to work to ease up to the gate - timing is everything! It’s usually a white cadillac with the two “wings” of the metal gate on either side. I’m surprised some people have never seen this - you can search of one on You Tube or go to any of the trotting track websites and watch a race. There are some going on right now at the Chester track - here is the website for simulcasting that I use - click on Chester http://espn.go.com/horse/liveracing06.html
I believe that the KY Derby has only had the 2 gates, no actual “outside” (meaning starting without being loaded in a gate at all) starters in the modern era. It would be an unfair advantage or dis-advantage depending on the horse. You can watch replays of Secretariat’s races and most of the other big name horses on You Tube, so that’s a good place to look if you are really curious. Also a good place to look up a trotting race if you want to see the start.
I’m pretty sure that would have been Rock Hard Ten in the 2004 Preakness
From USA Today:
By Gail Burton, AP
Right from start, Rock Hard Ten was out of sorts. And pretty soon, just like every other new horse in the Preakness Stakes, he was out of the race. Hoping to challenge Smarty Jones on a fast track, Rock Hard Ten instead proved to be more of a handful to jockey Gary Stevens. Kicking up his heels and twirling around, the rambunctious colt refused to enter the starting gate Saturday.
“He’s a big, black stallion and he wants to do it his way,” breeder and co-owner Madeleine Paulson said. “No one is going to push him in and tell him to go.”
Eventually, Stevens jumped off, and it took almost a half-dozen people to shove the horse into place, delaying the start for about five minutes and prompting the record crowd of 112,668 to shout even louder to get going. With Rock Hard Ten finally in place, Stevens climbed aboard again.
