3 changes that I would like to see in racing.

I would really love to see these ideas of mine made into rules but I doubt it will happen.This is not an ideal world!

1) If a jockey pushes a horse to get to the front and then eases up on the field he should get a holiday or a good fine.
It happens too often that they push to get there then ease up and try sprint for home. It turns some distance races into a 600m sprint.

2) If a horse/jockey causes interference to another horse he must be placed behind that horse. No arguements. You caused
interference and that is that. No stipes having to play God and decide whether you would or would not have beaten the other horse.
A few objections like this would teach the Jockeys to go straight or face the consequences.

3) Horses must be loaded into the starting stalls by their draw and not by their gradings. Too often the horses are not schooled properly so that they mess around when graded and go in late and prejudice the horses where Trainers have done a proper job in schooling them. A figure that is pretty close is that 80% of the horses that go in late come from 20% of the Trainers.

Craig

I am not sure about 1 above since I am not a trainer.

I agree with you 100% with 2 and 3. (especially 2)

Part 1 is one of the arts or race riding imo.. Steve Cauthen and Frankie were 2 masters of judging pace from the front

I just believe if you have to push and really ride a horse to get to the front then you must not ease the field up. The jockeys behind see the pace you going and ride their horses for that pace and then suddenly everyone is checking and being interfered with behind. If you jump in front and want to set your own pace that is very different but dont chase then pull up on the field.It is blatantly dangerous to horses and jockeys behind.

Part 1 you Mental, surely the jockeys in behind should figure out the pace and not get caught.

The other 2 agree 100%

NOW to fix problem 1 ALL jockeys as part of their qualifying process should be forced to work in the USA work riding and race riding for 1 year.

Easy, if some jockey has gone flying around the outside and going a really good pace you expect that to be kept up so you get in behind nicely covered up and in a good position for the pace that the front runner has set and then he eases up and you end up havind to check badly because the horses are like bumper cars in front of you. Do you think that is right?

Craig I agree with you on point 1, if a horse finds itself in front and no one wants to pass it then by all means set your own pace, but when jockeys flog their horses to get the lead then to pull up the hand brake is also very dangerous to both horses and jockeys behind it. The jockey who has now taken the lead should ensure the pace is atleast what it was before taking over the lead.

Far too many stayers races, like the one on Met day, are run at a crawl and then turned into a sprint.

On the other points I remember hearing that in either Singapore or Hong Kong before moving in front of another horse you need to have a 1,5 lenght lead so not to cause interference. Not sure how true but would definatly eliminate a lot of interferrence.

Craig ,I agree fully with 2 & 3 because they are more objective than at present.
I also agree with 1 as well,insofar as the "dangerous aspect is concerned,except for the fact that I don't know how you would measure it (old adage: "if you can't measure it ,you can't manage it" ) I would guess that sectional timing may be the only way
Non-measurement is the reason that the NHA already cannot enforce their "consistency" rule......................there is no definition of "consistent" or of "inconsistent" and one day somebody will work that out.

I go on and on about the need for new sensible rules,but where are they going to find the sensible people to draw them up?

Craig ,Chris Taylor says he agrees on all 3 points with you aswell

Thanks Bob, Chris has been all over and knows what is right.

As i said yesterday a lot of races over 1mile are run at a crawl and turns into a sprint.
But i think the jocks should use their initative and act before they hit the straight.
Marcus did it yesterday on Radio Waves,but he is different class to most of your
average jocks.A lot of the time they seem to wait for someone else to make a
move first,if no one makes a move its another sprint.
Craig do you use speed gauges in your work.No laughing i know they do in Newmarket

DTF we have used GPS watches before. Leon will be able to tell you more about them than me.