In recent weeks, watching racing on TV, I’ve noticed that down at the start there is a lot more walking going on, where once one saw horses milling about in a mildly chaotic fashion quite a lot of the time. If my eyes have not deceived me, I congratulate whoever is responsible for this change. It has long been a fact that horses are more amenable to discipline, more responsive to instruction, more relaxed, and better able to handle the complexity of what comes next (eight hurdles or eighteen fences possibly) if they are walking rather than moving at any faster pace.

Let me remind you that my concerns apply to the starting process of races with big fields. These deserve maximum attention because among them will be many of the most valuable National Hunt races. In recent years such races have produced more than their fair share of bad starts and false starts, and the reason for this is the fact that our current starting procedures are unsatisfactory when applied to big fields, and need to be adjusted in that circumstance. However this outbreak of walking is a step (or several) in the right direction.

On Saturday 15th December I watched the preparations for the 2.30 at Cheltenham, a handicap chase over 2 miles, 5 furlongs.

Down at the start, in the “holding area” beside the track, the 14 runners were walking round in a most relaxed manner. It was a delight to behold – but not for long. Suddenly, responding to instructions to which I was not privy, the field formed up into two rows of six, side by side, close-packed laterally and with just a small gap between the tails of the leading six and the noses of those immediately behind, with the remaining two close up behind the second line.

Walking, they were instructed to circle anticlockwise, and it soon became clear that the horses on the left of the two leading lines were walking, but the horses on the right of the lines had to trot to maintain their positions. Within seconds 14 relaxed horses enjoying plenty of room, turned into 14 slightly agitated horses, not enjoying their cramped situation or the difficulty of maintaining an arrangement that was uncomfortable. In addition 6 had a very good view of what lay ahead, and 8 didn’t. Not exactly ideal.

This formation (a very small three-section caterpillar) was ushered out on to the course, the tapes went up and off they went.

It wasn’t a bad start, but why the choreography? Once you have got horses WALKING in a peaceful and relaxed state, you can do anything you like with them. There is no need to jam the field up like a tin of sardines.

Bear in mind that the race described had 14 runners. How about 25? The walk/trot situation in the holding area would have been considerably more frenetic, and the caterpillar formation would have probably resulted in the last rank being eight or nine lengths behind the first when the tapes went up. Fair start? I think not.

Fifty minutes later I am watching the 3.20 at Doncaster, a steeplechase of 16 runners. When the Television focusses on the start, the runners are already on the course, some way behind the tapes, and walking! Again! I am delighted.

Ideally they should have been walking nose to tail, in single file (for reasons which I will explain in due course.) In fact they were walking in twos or threes, but they were walking, that was the main thing. Peace was in the air and relaxation was the mood – most satisfactory. Now all that needs to happen, I said to myself, is for the starter to invite the jockeys to make a line. They will turn towards him and walk towards the tape under his control, and he will talk them through the starting process and send them on their way.

Not a bit of it. Suddenly it becomes clear that the riders are being asked to form the “caterpillar”: fours and fives, tight-packed laterally and in close order from stem to stern. Then they are being asked to whizz round in a circle, and then another circle, before finally responding to an invisible signal that blast-off is G for go! Off they go, tight-packed, in close order, and considerably “hotter” than is desirable.

If horses are walking in single file, nose to tail, in an elliptic (flattened) circle, on the racecourse proper, they have plenty of room, which is a good thing, and the elliptic shape means that all the horses, whichever side of the ellipse they happen to be, are roughly the same distance from the tapes. Good – that’s called fairness. In all other sports, fair starts are considered essential.

When the starter invites the jockeys to make a line, each horse turns towards the tapes. They are spread out across the course,so every horse has plenty of room. Every horse and rider has the same adequate view of what lies ahead – the first obstacle, for example. And they are still walking and nothing has so far happened to fry the brains of either horses or riders.

Rome was not built in a day. We have at last a reason to be cheerful. National Hunt racing may just have rediscovered the vital importance and value of walking. If this concept turns out to be a reality and not a mirage, there is no end to the joyful possibilities that may lie in store.

Whatever happens in the meantime, we will find out if our starting arrangements are fit for purpose in the spring, with the Imperial Cup at Sandown (a start where access to the track is so bad that rails have been sent flying on the last two occasions, and the authorities have instantly announced that the jockeys are to blame, which happens not to be the case). The following week features the Cheltenham Festival (eight false starts in three days last year). The final test will be provided when the best part of forty horses turn up for the Grand National.

Plenty of time to put the house in order, and much to look forward to. We will see what we will see. A Merry Christmas to one and all.

Andrew Simpson.

21st Dec. 2012.