STARTING FROM BEHIND.

Waikato Times, Volume 111, Issue 18524, 2 January 1932, Page 7

STARTING FROM BEHIND.

SYDNEY* MAN'S SUGGESTION. A Sydney racing man has suggested that starters should stand behind the fields they release. The Sydney Morning Herald, in explaining the idea, says: “The greatest trouble i 6 that the jockeys, Instead of looking to the front, turn their heads to the right, keenly on the lookout for a move from the starter’s hand as he presses the lever to release the tapes. Thus it Is instinct more than anything else • that makes the horse jump directly to the front. There is another aspect, too, and this is that the cry from the starter, "Go!" is apt to make the horse on the Inside jump outwards. His suggestion is that the stand for the starter should be ten lengths behind the barrier. By placing him there he would more easily see a horse Inclined to change his position when lined up; he would certainly see better algng the line of horses than is possible under the existing conditions: the horse lucky enough to have drawn No. 1 position would not have cause to Jump away from the inner rail on th word to go; but, above all, the jockeys would Jump at the word from the starter, and would Jump straight out., for they would he watching the tapes Instead of the starter, \a.s is now the general practice." The weakness in this idea is the danger of some of the riders not,hearing the starter. Ilow would a deaf Jockey fare? He would not be employed. What might occur on a stormy day with a howling gale blowing the "wrong” way? Worse still, the starter himself would be out of a job if he contracted laryngitis or some other voice-subduing complaint.