When we are looking at how a race is won and lost our focus
centres primarily on the middle to the business end of a race. There is little doubt
that this is also where the stewards focus their attention. I mean, have you
ever heard of a jockey being given a day for removing a hood too late or for
being asleep when the gate opens.
The sectional times introduced at Lingfield Park have been
most enlightening on how a race can be lost in the first furlong. Whether by
design or misfortune, I think the start of a race should be given greater
scrutiny by the powers to be.
From a standing start you would expect the opening sectional
time to be the slowest part of a race, but when you look at the range of times
recorded in the first furlong and weigh them against the average range of times
recorded over the final 3 furlongs you start to understand how mischief can be
managed most affectively in the opening salvo.
I could provide several races from each day at Lingfield Park since sectional times have been returned at the course: 12th February 2014, but here is a typical example of what is happening on a daily
basis:
Polar Express and Jazz Bay are heavily restrained in the
opening furlong and concede upwards of 0.74 of a second to the leader. If we
remove Polar Express first furlong from its sectional times it is fastest over
the following 6 furlongs ( avg 12.61) and is fastest over the final 3 furlongs
( avg 12.97). You would have to conclude that it was the restraining of the horse in
the first furlong that lost it the race.
If a jockey gives a horse a violent tug in the final furlong
of a race, he goes before the stewards. Do it at the beginning of a race and you
have a whole list of plausible excuses. I would seriously suggest if you are working with the sectional times to remove the opening furlong from any calculations and use them for reference only.
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