And
here is the wonderful
Stan Bergstein article that appeared
last summer in the Daily Racing Form. Please read with an open mind
while you're counting all those Polytrack breakdowns....
Quote:
So let's begin, not with the old gag about how many guys
it takes to screw in a lightbulb, but rather how many
it takes to start a Thoroughbred race.
The thought occurred watching the Belmont, with 12 riders ponying
the field, 12 guys or more shoving and pushing and locking hands
helping load the gate, two outriders, and of course a starter.
Twenty-seven people to make a starting gate work might make sense
if you flunked economics. It would have sounded fine if your name
was Clay Puett, who started building these mastodons.
It seems extravagantly labor intensive, however,
if you're a track operator in an industry desperately figuring out
how to make a buck.
You will pardon me, I hope, if I point out
it takes just two men to start a harness race,
one driving the mobile gate and one facing the field
and giving instructions to the drivers.
To see how well it works, watch any night on HRTV or TVG.
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THE SOURCE:
http://www.harnesstracks.com/2006DRF/drfjune142006.htm