The start of the Badger Ales Chase at Wincanton on November 10th was interesting. The horses were on the track when the TV cameras first focussed on them, 13 runners walking round  in threes or fours: horses and riders relaxed, comfortable, at ease and ready to go to work.

When the starter asked them to advance, they advanced, walking, unfussed, calm – exactly as horses should be, as they prepare to negotiate formidable obstacles at racing pace. They advanced in caterpillar formation: three, three, three and four – perhaps six lengths between the nose of the leaders and the tails of the rearguard.  An inequality which could be addressed, when the tapes went up, in the first three strides, if jockeys so wished. In this case the field set off perfectly: it was a start that could not be faulted.

The down side? It is absolutely vital that the down side is appreciated. If there had been 24 horses, the advance towards the tapes would have created a caterpillar at least eleven lengths from tip to tail (six groups of four, for example, with a length between each group). That is not a fair start and should not be acceptable to jockeys, trainers, owners, the press or the public – least of all to the racing authorities. If, as so often is the case, the field has been ushered off the track when the runners get down to the post, and has to negotiate a chicane and pass through a narrow gap in the rails in order to get back on to the track, there can be twenty lengths between first and last when the rearguard reaches the racing surface. 

Such unfairness is unacceptable, and avoidable. Even if the horses have left the track (which I suggest is a mistake), the flaw in the system can be neutralised. Let the field walk back out on to the course in single file, and form a nose-to-tail circle a fair distance from the tapes. Let the circling continue until the whole field is on the track. It is a procedure that is second nature to both horses and jockeys because it happens on a daily basis on their home gallops.

When the starter wants to start the race, let him mount his rostrum (horses to continue circling, under the control of his assistant). When the starter is ready, he tells  the jockeys to prepare to start. Still walking, still relaxed, the horses turn towards the tapes and form a line abreast. It doesn’t need to be ruler-straight, just sufficiently straight for the jockeys to know that they are getting the benefit of a FAIR START. That will be sufficient to ensure that nobody needs to get excited by what is going on, and all concerned can concentrate on the job in hand.

This is not rocket science and I know much more about the Georgics of Vergil and Horace’s Odes than I do about racing: so what I am suggesting is just a system that makes sense (which is not true of the current arrangements) and which worked well for two centuries. One caveat: I suspect that at present trust between jockeys and starters, which is vital, lies in ruins. It can be rebuilt, and it won’t take too long, because the present difficulty is not the fault of the jockeys, nor is it the fault of the starters. One must look further up the food-chain for the architects of the hiccups that currently bedevil the system.

Best wishes.

Andrew Simpson