Lane Racing

LANE RACING

By Tim Finley

I want you to give thought, not knee-jerk reaction, to a concept that I believe deserves consideration and further discussion.

We understand the reasons for Indian style racing, but 99% of the people believe all of those horses strung out single file on the racetrack is far from being exciting. The only excitement comes in the last 15 seconds and that usually involves only two or three horses (not to mention the horses who are struggling to keep up because they went lame, made a break, or drew poorly).

It is a fact that life-taking, life-threatening accidents in Standardbred racing may be one of the factors that could lead to our eventual demise. It is my opinion that nose to helmet racing is the primary reason for most chain reaction wrecks. The speed, length of bikes, position of handholds, etc. may play a factor, but if a horse goes down, chances are many of the horses behind him/her will also go down.

We also know that outside post positions, due to the traditional “luck of the draw” makes it difficult for outside horses to compete effectively. The luck of the draw is a joke. Anyone who understands the sport realizes how dreadful an outside draw can be. How does a trainer explain to a new owner that his horse probably will not pick-up a check because of an outdated system? This is not good business. Many trainers will put on a show, but few want to burn up their horse, so they wait until next week. This is not fair!

Lane racing would provide excitement for most of the mile, rather than during the last eighth mile, would be safer, and also not handicap horses if all horses go exactly one mile. Sure, there would need to be a driver with a good set of hands to rate his horse, and yes there would be some other factors to be taken into consideration. Inside horses would have sharper turns and outside horses would enjoy the luxury of a little more speed in the turns. So, there would be more than just the speed of the horse to be taken into consideration.

Recent statistics regarding racing at Yonkers revealed outside post positions at Yonkers, particularly the 7-8 holes are at a significant disadvantage due to the added distance they must travel during the course of the race if they get away at the back of the pack which is usually the case. This results in terrible finishes. For instance, post 8 has 57 wins in 1577 races. Post 7 has 120 in 2187. On the opposite end, post 1 has 419 wins in 2415 starts and post 2 has 2415. The top 3 posts this year in terms of wins are 4-5-1. How does a trainer explain to a potential owner that sometimes he stands no chance of getting a check because of an antiquated system?

Casino owners spend tens of millions of dollars yearly to improve their product. I doubt if Standardbred racing spends one percent of that. And many wonder why we are on welfare?

The following video is not intended to pick on Mr. Stalbaum regarding going from the outside post (described in the beginning) directly to the rail. It is to emphasize how most drivers think.