I wrote a detailed post about harness and included a related and also detailed rationale about the notion of improvement in sport , it took me 40 minutes .. I lost all of it ... it is trying to recall it but it’s a goner. It included a very Very detailed Rationale about afl too... detailed arguments to improve that sport a lot.. all lost .. not happy
But in relation to standing starts. This is a bare bones summary of what I lost. I’d start to reintroduce them in the premier race .. the interdominion. I’d make the longest heat ( probably) a standing start. I’d give trainers notice to adjust 12 -18months . This would reintroduce the skills of horsemanship, diligence, persistence, patience and spectacle.. the miserable punter can then do their homework and see what trainers and horses do the work with selected horses and prepare them. You might have heats of pacing cups and also have a standing start in those. We need to get races with the top horses entered, so pacing cups and interdominions would contain a standing start You might have to shave small amounts of winning dividends of other races, or have meetings which drop of the last race to divert winnings to the premier races. If we get more horses like Poster Boy to enter the premier events, the better. The name Group 1 is well known but it’s not really a marketing term really, nor does it distinguish harness from thoroughbred racing. Having said all this, yes it’s improvement but not game changing. We need more Hunter Cups, we need more of those tortuous 3000 metre races and 3000 metre heats in big races .
Reply With Quote