Sprint lane debate once and for all!!!!

[teecee]

As I said teecee I want to see the best horse and driver win and in that race Mark Purdon let down the team - driving a hot shot he should have taken the opportunity to get off the fence in the first 100m when it was there, it was tightish but it was there. Of course there will be hard luck stories but I prefer the idea of less winners thanks to soft runs

Don't you think that trailing your supposedly toughest opposition and expecting it to take you further into the race was not reasonable and when that didn't happen there is no way out with no passing lane. What really should happen IMO is all tracks or none.

[teecee]

Instead of jumping up and down like a startled rabbit (if that's what they do!) ????!!!!!!

Have you been drinking Lenny?

Why should the trailing horse be GUARANTEED a fair crack Lenny. If every horse is guaranteed a fair crack then I might go along with it - cannot imagine the gallops world bringing in a sprint lane or preventing jockeys from keeping horses in a pocket. Big tracks with long straights are probably best for giving nearly every runner a chance of a fair crack, as I have explained it sucks (to me) that the trailing horse who has generally had the softest run is guaranteed a run in the straight

It is just my opinion and I have started the thread to open up the debate - I will put you down as for sprint lanes

I agree that many horses are incapable of taking the presented run but in finals after heats like last night's Oaks, I think there would have been a few happy and capable of using that barrier draw

ps I can go a year without a bet even though I attend plenty of meetings - so I am not talking through my pocket

The comparison of harness to gallops is not entirely fair. Gallopers do not need the size of gap that harness horses need to secure a run. There is the issue of the sulky behind.

[Danno]

I'm not a fan of the sprint lane, but nor am I a fan of watching disgruntled punters saying " thats the last time I bet on the trots", so as a trainer/driver I dislike the FACT as Kevin points out, that the horse that has had quite possibly the softest run gets a "cheap shot" at the leader from only a length away in the dying stages of the race ( a VERY relevant aspect), people often over look the alternatives, like give the sprint laner a shot with a lap to go, or alternatively, at the 400m mark or thereabouts. Driving tactics and race results would alter dramatically!!!!

I do get annoyed with knee jerk reactions to the "disgruntled punter" as well.....do we see the Gallops constantly changing their game? No we do not, and they have left us for dead in the last twenty years or so. I remember very well when the push from our commercial breeders years ago for all mobile racing and how it would be a salve for disgruntled punters, many years later there are just as many horses missing the start and just as many disgruntled punters!!!!

The sprint lane is just another knee jerk reaction. that is my opinion. People need to inderstand you can't please all the people all the time, and therein lies the problem with knee jerk "fixes".

Cheers,
Dan

[Lenem]

I could equally argue with no lesser degree of logic that it is unfair that the trailing horse be positively disadvantaged by lobbing behind the leader which is often the case on tracks with no sprint lane. I "grew up' at the Showgrounds where you knew you were gone if you ended up behind a Don Dove or a Graeme Lang. With the sprint lane we all know where we stand and if your horse has the ability to come on at the end of a race it will have the full opportunity to do so.
Cheers

[Greg Hando]

I hate them and we refer to it as the squib lane.

[Danno]

I could equally argue with no lesser degree of logic that it is unfair that the trailing horse be positively disadvantaged by lobbing behind the leader which is often the case on tracks with no sprint lane. I "grew up' at the Showgrounds where you knew you were gone if you ended up behind a Don Dove or a Graeme Lang. With the sprint lane we all know where we stand and if your horse has the ability to come on at the end of a race it will have the full opportunity to do so.
Cheers

Lenny I am loath to to respond in an equally simplistic way, but in order to adequately make my point to you the I believe I must. so I have simply highlighted the obvious.

[Lenem]

If simplistic means actually making a coherent argument then please be simplistic

Lenny I am loath to to respond in an equally simplistic way, but in order to adequately make my point to you the I believe I must. so I have simply highlighted the obvious.

[Messenger]

I could equally argue with no lesser degree of logic that it is unfair that the trailing horse be positively disadvantaged by lobbing behind the leader which is often the case on tracks with no sprint lane. I "grew up' at the Showgrounds where you knew you were gone if you ended up behind a Don Dove or a Graeme Lang. With the sprint lane we all know where we stand and if your horse has the ability to come on at the end of a race it will have the full opportunity to do so.
Cheers

I loved the Showgrounds' days Lenny. DD and GL were pretty good drivers don't you think whereas a trained monkey could win a race from the sit with a sprint lane. If you were driving a horse to win (rather than place) would you let yourself end up behind either of these 2 in the lead. The emboldened part is my problem Lenny - why should the horse with the softest run be GUARANTEED the opportunity to do so

[Messenger]

The comparison of harness to gallops is not entirely fair. Gallopers do not need the size of gap that harness horses need to secure a run. There is the issue of the sulky behind.

I hear you teecee but gallopers do still get held up if the jockey does not read the situation correctly and jockeys are praised when they stitch up their opposition by keeping them in a pocket

[Lenem]

I loved the Showgrounds' days Lenny. DD and GL were pretty good drivers don't you think whereas a trained monkey could win a race from the sit with a sprint lane. If you were driving a horse to win (rather than place) would you let yourself end up behind either of these 2 in the lead. The emboldened part is my problem Lenny - why should the horse with the softest run be GUARANTEED the opportunity to do so

one could argue that for the same reason swimmers and runners race in lanes i.e to minimize the effect of external factors and to determine who is actually the fastest!