Punctuality.

C

Colin Phillips

At the Start
Joined
Dec 22, 2003
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Talbot Green
There is a piece on the Racing Post site this morning about a drive to get races off on time. Epsom and Salisbury seem to be the worst offenders.

Of course, the move to get races off on time is laudable but I have the feeling in my mind that the move is at the behest of the bookmakers and television. I know myself that it is frustrating when a race goes off late and runs into another. On course, providing that the delays are not of ridiculous proportions, it makes very little difference to the ordinary race-goer.
 
I agree totally with the drive to get races off on time. Epsom and Salisbury are notoriously bad - they don't even try to get races off on time. This last week aside (where they did very well) Goodwood is usually a culprit as well. There is nothing more annoying than seeing jockeys pull up halfway to the post and walk along chatting when it is already gone post time. Half the time it's down to the jockeys not getting out of the changing rooms when they should; they often need several shouts. Half the time they're too busy watching races from elsewhere on the TV.
 
Races going off late affect everyone, Colin. More often than not they don't even try to catch up either so the last can end up going off 10 minutes late. It's not hard to get races off on time, not least when at the worst offending courses there are 35 minute gaps, designed to minimise late offs.
 
all I can say is come racing in germany - I think a 30-minute delay by race 5 is the standard over here, awful. sure enough accidents can happen, a horse losing its jockey etc., but over here it happends EVERY SINGLE WEEKEND. you complain on a pretty high level so to say ....
 
Delays in racing are inevitable(the saying goes "Don't work with animals or children") and more likely depended also on, the enviroment issues of the courses mentioned as a possible influence in the cause of delays. If they occur on a regular basis then surely it stands to reason that this aspect should be considered.
 
You also always find that one gets loose before the last - generally the 21:20 at Ripon and they spend 20 minutes catching it, having outriders would solve a number of problems.

Lingfield on saturday night couldn't even get the first race off on time - it went off 4 minutes late, how hard is it to make sure they all get down to the start on time, there's no time stipulation that they can only get to the start 5 mins before the scheduled off. I can understand if there's a lengthy stewards after one race or the ambulance is required etc but the first race should always be off on time.
 
Agreed in respect of the first race going off on time, regardless of any contributory factors there is very little room for excuse were it not to.
 
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