Quote:
Originally Posted by Honu
Actually its not that hard to pop the front doors of the starting gate open, they are held together with magnets.
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Yes. It takes between 350 to 500lbs of force to break the gates open. I believe a horse leads with the face.
I have seen horses over the years win after breaking through the front of the gate... however, they are a lot more likely than normal to run dismally after doing it and even on the win-end they are bad bets. I always note it when I see it. Sometimes the chart callers don't even publish it in the result chart.
The last race at Santa Anita yesterday was a much more extreme example. That horse got TKO'd.