We only have Standing Starts for the trotters not the pacers nowadays Terry.
I think the only reason the Trotters got to keep them is that people know trotters can break anyway
I think I am right in saying the death of the standing start came about due to one of the NZers who was favourite for the Hunter Cup (I think) breaking and the punters never really got a run for their money so everybody jumped on the 'all mobile' bandwagon
I don't actually follow the trotters to the extent that I follow the pacers but I love a trotting stand start where the backmarker (favourite?) is giving away a big start as I want to see if he/she can make up the handicap
It is also one of the points of excitement in pro running, where the backmarker might be giving up the best part of a lap in a 4 lap/mile race. I am a big athletics fan and the greatest run I ever saw from Cathy Freeman was not the Sydney Olympics but at Stawell where she overcame a huge handicap in a 400m (no Stawell this year
)
There are plenty who would like to see the return of standing starts for the pacers to recreate the excitement of the old Showgrounds days Terry