Safety?

Jorge · Postby **Jorge** » Wed Mar 23, 2011 8:05 pm

Never seen a person standing in the track next to a field of horses out of the starting gate as seen in the video shown of the Portland Mile H by The Blood Horse!

ElPrado · Postby **ElPrado** » Wed Mar 23, 2011 8:22 pm

I've seen starters do that before. I don't consider them very bright starters, but I've seen it before.

photofinish · Postby **photofinish** » Wed Mar 23, 2011 9:11 pm

ElPrado wrote:I've seen starters do that before. I don't consider them very bright starters, but I've seen it before.

The one out here does it. He isn't very bright, either. Thinks shanking and buggy whipping a nervous horse inot a lather is the only way to handle them - morning or afternoon :roll:

. One of mine almost ran him over several months ago at the start of a race. Many trainers lamented that she didn't...

Jorge · Postby **Jorge** » Thu Mar 24, 2011 6:21 am

Why not modify starting gates in order to place the starter person in an upper and adjacent-to-the-gate position? We all want to save the life of all these daring people in spite of all their efforts to be replaced with wiser ones (due to their untimely demise).

photofinish · Postby **photofinish** » Thu Mar 24, 2011 8:08 pm

Jorge wrote:Why not modify starting gates in order to place the starter person in an upper and adjacent-to-the-gate position? We all want to save the life of all these daring people in spite of all their efforts to be replaced with wiser ones (due to their untimely demise).

No real need to modify the gates, IMO. The smarter starters merely stand on the other side of the rail. Can't put a roof over the world for those lacking the sense to come in out of the rain. :wink:

Bast · Postby **Bast** » Thu Mar 24, 2011 8:41 pm

photofinish wrote:
Jorge wrote:Why not modify starting gates in order to place the starter person in an upper and adjacent-to-the-gate position? We all want to save the life of all these daring people in spite of all their efforts to be replaced with wiser ones (due to their untimely demise).

No real need to modify the gates, IMO. The smarter starters merely stand on the other side of the rail. Can't put a roof over the world for those lacking the sense to come in out of the rain.

And if such a roof could be put up, there would be those who would cut a hole for ventilation or aesthetics...

Jorge · Postby **Jorge** » Fri Mar 25, 2011 5:37 am

Photofinish and Bast,

Wow, brilliantly expressed by both!

:lol:

Brogan · Postby **Brogan** » Fri Mar 25, 2011 6:05 am

I'm seeing this more and more often. What happened to the starter behind the rail standing on a platform???

Jorge · Postby **Jorge** » Fri Mar 25, 2011 6:49 am

In that very same race card, in the Portland Meadows Derby, the horse assigned to box number 5 nearly fell at the start and luckily nothing happened there but moments before the starter was around there.

Shammy Davis · Postby **Shammy Davis** » Fri Mar 25, 2011 6:55 am

You've got to wonder what the starter was thinking. A couple of steps to left by the rail horse and the starter would have been flattened.