Stalls handlers and starters

Normally wouldn't offer up Sandown as a paragon for starting, but that 5f start procedure would help elsewhere imvho.  There to my mind seems far too much space in the loading area behind the stalls.  Lesser distance from the taped-off area would mean less distance to get reluctant beasts up to the gate!  Sometimes there appears half a furlong of distance behind the stalls, which Shirley is ridiculous.  Anything to get the effing races off on time would help.

Normally wouldn't offer up Sandown as a paragon for starting, but that 5f start procedure would help elsewhere imvho.  There to my mind seems far too much space in the loading area behind the stalls.  Lesser distance from the taped-off area would mean less distance to get reluctant beasts up to the gate!  Sometimes there appears half a furlong of distance behind the stalls, which Shirley is ridiculous.  Anything to get the effing races off on time would help.

So the trainers do not bear any responsibility for this?
The reason they have minimal problems in the US is they are schooled through the stalls all the time and have to have a passport covering stalls performance. any misdemeanours and the horse is not allowed to race until a stalls test is completed satisfactorily.
I have spoken to some UK trainers and they admit to not preparing their horses for the stalls. They reckon if their horse takes time to be loaded, it will have an edge over the horse that has stood in the stalls for some time.
I'm not saying that UK handlers are great but they have a lot to deal with.

100% Correct cantthink

George Baker gave a good explanation yesterday actually. He said it's too much manpower for smaller trainers to practice much with the stalls at home. He said three staff for each horse. One to lead in and 2 to shut the gates. So 3 per horse. That's a lot of staff for small trainers.

It seems to take far too long over here so they shd be able to come up with a better education.

I think barrier trials are the way forward.

how long have we had stalls in this country? 50+ years? to think, until now they've had to do this job without the benefit of Crawford's wisdom...they've been pi$$ing into the wind til now 

Starters should adopt a two refusals to go in and you're out policy.

Also starters should insist all the horses are at the gate at least 5 minutes before the advertised start of the race and no more of the nonsense of having to wait for some hick novice hurdle in Ireland to be completed before they start to load. 35 minutes between races is fast becoming the norm which is fine for NH but ludicrous for run of the mill flat races.

I'm pretty sure that there is more trouble today loading horses than there ever has been in the past. If true, it points to how trainers are not preparing horses for stalls entry like they should. Poor quality stable staff is key here.

The stalls handlers do well, on the whole. But the standard is now slipping and we present the horses far to close to race time in the UK - seemingly to allow for an over-crowded race schedule to run its course.

Also, our stalls are narrower than in the US and Ireland but that, I am told, is because of logistics. Sets of stalls are shared between tracks and often have to travel along tight 'B' roads to reach tracks. Hence, they are built to be transported.

In the US they also have outriders but I now wonder about their overall effectiveness, having been a fan for a long while. Yes, outriders keep the horses calm but do they allow the runners to achieve a speed to post that means a horse is sufficiently warmed up? Are drugs used so much in US racing because the horses start their races with a lower heart rate, which leads to more injuries? I'm only speculating here, anyone know?

Lastly, though, today at Beverley it seemed amateur half hour. First a jockey didn't weigh-in but the result could not be changed because the weigh-in signal had already been given! (Horse was unplaced but match betting still came into it).

Then a horse got loose on the way to the start. But what annoyed me was how Joe Fanning had already had to dismount and walk the beast to the start. He was clearly struggling with a difficult horse but nobody - stable staff or stalls handlers - saw fit to go and help him out. The horse eventually busted through the rails and this caused a delay while the rails were fixed.

But then we had a power cut!

Lastly, before the second from final race there was a delay because water pressure at the track had dropped. Presumably this might have meant no water for the horses after the race. Of course, though, nobody had made provision for such an event happening during a race. OK, those two events were not the fault of the track but nobody has any foresight in this game.

All in all, our racing is largely run by amateurs - but then so is the whole bl**dy, hopeless, country!

The Knight - vgd!

I so agree with the barrier trial suggestion above. I'm based in Asia and there are trials all over the place, from Hk to Macau, to Singapore as well as down in Aus and NZ. Just need to have some regional locations.

They would also benefit the apprentice riders.

A horse at Maisons-Laffitte on Monday required brute force to get it in the stalls, 2 big strong Frenchamen achieved this in about 60 seconds. Here a similar, stubborn horses would be surrounded by 8 midgets and would require 3 or 4 minutes to achieve the same result, if at all. Seen this many times.

Why does the job here appear to be a closed shop for small ex stable lads, get some big strong boys employed in the job as well, like the French.

Because they have experience with horses, because the job is only for 6months(unless you are near an all weather track) because they have second jobs usually involving horses.

I worked on the stalls ,Ian jardine trainer was working the stalls and training pointers at the same time as were other people, most were experienced with horses and farming, if a horse is not wanting to go in 10 burly fullback won't get it in, trainers need to stall train more and penalty need to be more severe.

I'm sure plenty of big lads have experience with horses could do the job flush and you need less of them when brute strength is required to get recalcitrant horses in, as France proves.

Starters more or less all appear to be ex jockeys, are ex jockeys nearly always best for that job?

as France proves= one horse at M-Laffite on Monday   

Not one horse - happens all the time, as does what happens here