The last race at Santa Anita earlier today

[Calzone Lord]

Originally Posted by PatCummings

I believe a break through leads to an automatic scratch in the UK...someone was telling me that the other day.

I think they should unload the rest of the field from the gate when it happens.

It gives the bettors more time to do what they want. And I think it's fair to everyone... even though it will cause a delay.

It's especially fair to the horse who probably feels like he just got hit in the mouth with a club.

[OldDog]

Originally Posted by Calzone Lord

I think they should unload the rest of the field from the gate when it happens.

It gives the bettors more time to do what they want. And I think it's fair to everyone... even though it will cause a delay.

It's especially fair to the horse who probably feels like he just got hit in the mouth with a club.

But they're just 1200 pounds of beast...

[Honu]

Actually its not that hard to pop the front doors of the starting gate open, they are held together with magnets.

[Calzone Lord]

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.

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.

[Riot]

Horses only have about 10-15 seconds of anaerobic metabolic energy reserve they use during the massive energy push-off of the start. Breaking through the gate aggressively means they have used that up (as it is not replaced instantly), and have to go to aerobic metabolic energy creation vs. their peers at the start. Yes, a disadvantage, more pronounced in sprints.

The vets normally - should - check eyes, nose, mouth for bleeding and broken front teeth (common), look at the knees for laceration, etc.

Edit: I watch alot of Australian racing, and the vets take out horses at the gate constantly, very readily, compared to the US. They also back them out of the gate and look at them alot more, if the horse goes off in the gate, for example.