NO TAPES IN SOUTH AUSTRALIAN STANDS....WELL WORTH A TRY!!
Commencing April 1 no strands will be used in standing starts in South Australia.We should applaud this further effort on the part of the SA control body to improve the image of stand starts,and ensure their retention and perhaps their renaissance in the overall light harness scene.In my 45 years in this game,a few wonderful innovations have surfaced and have proven of great benefit.They include wheel discs (there are too many people about who do NOT remember the time when bolt cutters were essential equipment for the clerk of the course),hopple shorteners,spreaders (in their various forms) and,of course,the re-inforced safety helmet.
Other items,which received far greater fanfare upon their adoption,and which have proven to be of dubious value indeed,have been,the mobile barrier.This mechanical monster was hailed as the panacea for all of trottings ills.It might have served a useful purpose had the people who decided the fashion in which it was to be used had any earthly idea what it was good for.It has only three uses.Single class events,FFA's,and events for horses which have earned a reputation as hopeless at the stand.The latest attempt to justify the universal use of this starting method has been to computerise the score-up speed regime.The concept of interfacing 10 or a dozen hyped up race horses with a computer chip is bizarre enough, without the actual execution.
Secondly,we changed the name.TROTTING became HARNESS RACING.It was a lot of years ago,and administrators spoke the words "harness racing" as if they were referring to the"HOLY GRAIL".Sadly,the only people who heard the gospel were those who were pedalling it,and the participants,who were forced to listen to it.Thirdly,and perhaps most dangerous of all,was the privatisation of the TABS.No longer were our prime income sources under the fatherly umbrella of Government to whom we could turn in times of need.They now exist only to serve the share holders,while we are bound to long term contractual arrangements,which do not respond to natural disasters such as the current drought.
GOOD ON THE SOUTH AUSTRALIANS.THEY ARE DOING THEIR UTMOST TO PRESERVE THE ONLY PRACTICAL METHOD OF HANDICAPPING THE LIGHT HARNESS HORSE...STANDING STARTS..Denis.
Comments
I totally agree denis. I think its a major step in the right direction to preserve the Standing Start. One only has to go to Rocklea at the moment to see why we need to look at this practice in good old Queensland!
Posted by: Anthony Collins | April 3, 2007 03:13 AM