Question about things affecting a harness horse race

[kantseeback]

We often hear of juicing to effect performance. Have there been natural things happen during a race that affected the outcome?
Did a horse ever cut a big fart during a race thereby affecting the driver?
Please add any stories.

[Oliver Clozoff]

Uhhh, I remember when Ken Iulo's wheel fell off at the Meds.  He wasn't going to win anyway, 3 or 4 wheels didn't affect his driving performance.

[Meadow Ford]

We often hear of juicing to effect performance. Have there been natural things happen during a race that affected the outcome?
Did a horse ever cut a big fart during a race thereby affecting the driver?
Please add any stories.

A big fart?
A good horseman can tell what horse the fart came from just by the smell of the fart.
I don't know about farts affecting the driver, but a couple sour mares have pissed on me in a race and then stopped to a near walk.
A couple weeks ago at Haw. a big rat ran across the track and caused three horses to make breaks.

[Meadow Ford]

This happened to me fifty plus years ago at a county fair.
A full field of pacers behind the starting gate, half way down the stretch, and headed to the start.
The ambulance is parked in the infield just past the judges stand.
The ambulance gets a call, drives out on to the race track, and heads straight towards the oncoming starting gate and full field of horses.
Lights and siren on.
No one hurt, but boy did we scatter!

[kantseeback]

Uhhh, I remember when Ken Iulo's wheel fell off at the Meds.  He wasn't going to win anyway, 3 or 4 wheels didn't affect his driving performance.

I remember Iulo driving a few at YR. I think I recall him weighing 200 lbs.

[kantseeback]

A big fart?
A good horseman can tell what horse the fart came from just by the smell of the fart.
I don't know about farts affecting the driver, but a couple sour mares have pissed on me in a race and then stopped to a near walk.
A couple weeks ago at Haw. a big rat ran across the track and caused three horses to make breaks.

I think it was YR or M1 years ago that had a family of racoons living in the infield. They would wander out onto the track from time to time.

[FirstUpFrom8Hole]

Being shit on during a race is no big deal. Just keep your mouth closed. I've had rabbits run put in front of me at Scioto. Lightning hitting close by can shake things up too.