To leave...or not to leave...or else why bother showing up to race?

[wizardofoz]

Look at the charts from any harness track and it is obvious that 75% of the races are won by horses that are 1 through four at the 1/4 pole.  One has to wonder why more horses do not try to leave at the start of a race given these statistics.  For all intents and purposes the races are decided the first 1/8 of the mile and coming from behind to win is a rare and almost impossible request of any horse.

[racing123]

yep...it's become a very speed favoring sport....

[Open bridle]

This is especially true on 1/2 mile tracks where the leader can control the fractions. I think some horses just don't have gate speed to leave. And some drivers like the front end and some don't.

[Yonkers1A]

Look at the charts from any harness track and it is obvious that 75% of the races are won by horses that are 1 through four at the 1/4 pole.  One has to wonder why more horses do not try to leave at the start of a race given these statistics.  For all intents and purposes the races are decided the first 1/8 of the mile and coming from behind to win is a rare and almost impossible request of any horse.

Buggy races winners are decided before the post parade

[Bernie Madoff]

Buggy races winners are decided before the post parade

By whom?

[bond]

By whom?

The drivers.
1) The top guys-know the gate speed of horses in the race better than the trainers in many cases.
2) The odds-horses with the lowest odds are waaaay more likely to leave the gate than 10/1 or over shots.
3)The same drivers drive against each other dozens of times a week--they pretty much know what each of them will do before the gate opens.
Slanting the gate more and having 1 1/16mile races will reduce the bias on a half some. going 1/1/4 --11/2 mile races will reduce it a lot-but many horses racing today-could not handle going that far like they do in Europe.

[wizardofoz]

The odds should not determine whether or not to leave. That is the fault of many drivers that give up before the race even gets going. Long shots can come within a few lengths of the winner most of the time so why not go at the start for position and make money for the owners paying the monthly bills?

[Mailbox Money]

All horses have different abilities & quirks. Leave with a closer or grinder and they will be done by the half! These are animals not machines. SMFH!

[PucksnHorses]

The drivers and trainers with the weaker horses in each race sit back, stay inside and hope to pass the tiring horses to get a check and wait for their turn to win. They usually get to stay in the same class or even drop a class, so they just try and get checks. The Scott Zeron way of driving, never pull, stay inside, and hope to get lucky.

[Bernie Madoff]

The drivers and trainers with the weaker horses in each race sit back, stay inside and hope to pass the tiring horses to get a check and wait for their turn to win. They usually get to stay in the same class or even drop a class, so they just try and get checks. The Scott Zeron way of driving, never pull, stay inside, and hope to get lucky.

Stanley Banks was his idol.

[Mailbox Money]

Slanted The slanted gate should be a no brainer! Makes perfect sense since those horses not only go farther from the outside, they also have to "brush" an extra 1/8th to keep up with it.