Praise to Assistant Starter

[Maythehorsebewithme]

I watched the replay of the start of the Breeder's Cup Classic, specifically Quality Road's behavior.
Praise to the assistant starter who hung on to him after he broke through the front. Can you imagine a blindfolded, riderless, panic-stricken horse bolting down the stretch, probably hurting, maybe killing himself, in front of an international audience?
I would rather not. Thank goodness there was a relatively good outcome. Hope the horse is OK.:sadsmile:

[lpcutter]

Only the jockeys have a job more dangerous than the assistant starter in my opinion. I don't think the "gate crew" ever get enough credit for all they do. Kudos to all those guys out there that risk life and limb daily to make the races run smoothly. I have seen starters pull jockeys out of the gate when a horse flips and has him pinned saving the rider's life. It is just all in a day's work for them. As a horse owner and trainer, I just want to thank all the starters for a job well done.:)

[Glimmerglass]

For what its worth my opinion is that before the blindfold load attempt, they should've gone with front loading (backed into the gate vs walking forward in) but after the chain of events I'll concur the assistant starter was certainly brave in minimizing what could've been even worse.

Todd Pletcher's team has worked with trying to overcome it with gate schooling for QR but you just never know what a horse is going to do.

[danceronice]

Given what happened, I'm not sure there is any way Quality Road was going in that gate, backwards, forwards, or sideways. He'd made up his mind after the first attempt that today was not the day. (I've had trailer loads like that and in this case you can't take two hours to get things organized.) Good on the Assistant Starters for keeping things as under control as possible and good on the vet for calling it.

[Mali]

So how bad do they have to be to get their gate card yanked?

[SleepyFox]

The assistant starter at QR's head really did an amazingly good job holding on to him. I was watching on TV and was terrified the horse was going to get away from him. I can't believe he was able to hold on.

The gate crew really does have a very dangerous job and they aren't compensated well enough.

It was a shame to see a horse behave that badly in a marquee race.

[danceronice]

It was a shame to see a horse behave that badly in a marquee race.

He's a horse. Who knows what was going on in his head? He doesn't know it's a big race. Any horse on any day, even the ones you think are bombproof, can decide this is going to be the big explosion. Asking a horse to get in a starting gate or a trailer or even a small stall is asking them to let training override a few million years of instinct about narrow confined spaces that make scary noises. He's apparently always been a nervous loader, and maybe with the huge crowd and additional excitement and maybe the people were more hyped than normal and the other horses were more keyed up the switch just flipped. And once a 1000-lb horse decides he's not doing something and means it, there really isn't a whole lot anyone can do to force him.

And whatever they pay the Assistants, it's not enough. Not even the hanging on, I"m looking at those flying back hooves....

[FatDinah]

You can see a different view of Quality Road's actions on ESPN in the video of Jerry Bailey and Randy analyzing Zenyatta's win.

http://espn.go.com/horse-racing/

That whole gate crew deserves praise. A guy was in the chute with him and tried to hold him, then the guy who grabbed him and everyone else on the other horses.

There was a mention before another BC race of one of the European horses being banned in Britain for gate misbehavior. They said three times refusing to load and you're out.

Do you think Quality Road owners will give up and will go to stud?

[Glimmerglass]

Do you think Quality Road owners will give up and will go to stud?

Folks this is one race and he had a melt down - which isn't 100% his fault. It takes more then just the horse to cause a situation. An ear pulled too hard, a snap of the crews whip too close, too much commotion, etc.

Quality Road has been pretty much the sole "big horse" for Virginia in 2009. He was bred at Spring Hill Farm in Casanova, VA by his owner Edward Evans. In fact Evans is I believe the largest TB breeder in the Old Dominion. Edward is the son of the late Thomas Mellon Evans, who bred champion Pleasant Colony, winner of the 1981 Kentucky Derby.

QR has had feet issues which took him out of the triple crown chase but when he's been feeling all good and back on dirt that horse can fly. No chance he'll be retired simply because of a single race scratch. If he does retire at the end of 2009 it will be because of the quarter crack issue or other health related factor.

[FatDinah]

I did not mean retire him just because of the non-loading. There were references to his past misbehavior.

But more, I meant give up because of his injuries and bad luck. I agree wholeheartedly that he is a racehorse that we have not seen the best of with his issues.

[DickHertz]

It's a thankless job for sure. Very dangerous. I don't think a year goes by where someone isn't killed or hurt badly at the starting gate. Still haven't figured out why some tracks still don't require helmet and vest for all assistant starters.

Glimmer, not that I remember where I heard it, but it is my understanding that Quality Road has been having some gate issues for some time. He needs to be worked with a lot though. I don't think it was anyhing the assistants did wrong. I think the horse is going to need a lot of work to get over his issues.

[jherold]

I seem to recall his trainer saying he's had some issues at other races, but when they school him at the gate in the morning, he's fine. If he only acts up when it's an actual race, that will be a difficult thing to fix. It's not like they have "schooling" races!

[grayarabs]

Yes - praise to the starters.

Observing QR's obvious distaste for the starting gates (just being a bad boy or fear?) (I think the latter) - I was wondering if he could jump. Thinking he should be moved to races over fences - where they don't have starting gates, right?

On other website a gal mentioned the helicopter that was flying around during the loading of the gates - seeming right over the gates when they were trying to load QR. I had forgotten about that - but at the time was thinking - "someone tell that d****d helicopter to back off!".

[ThisTooShallPass]

[QUOTE=FatDinah;4488759]You can see a different view of Quality Road's actions on ESPN in the video of Jerry Bailey and Randy analyzing Zenyatta's win.

http://espn.go.com/horse-racing/

Oh my gosh, that is some video. :eek: Yes, great praise belongs to the fellow that held on in the gate for as long as he could; & to the fellow that held out outside of the gate!

[JustJump]

Folks this is one race and he had a melt down - which isn't 100% his fault. It takes more then just the horse to cause a situation. An ear pulled too hard, a snap of the crews whip too close, too much commotion, etc.

Quality Road has been pretty much the sole "big horse" for Virginia in 2009. He was bred at Spring Hill Farm in Casanova, VA by his owner Edward Evans. In fact Evans is I believe the largest TB breeder in the Old Dominion. Edward is the son of the late Thomas Mellon Evans, who bred champion Pleasant Colony, winner of the 1981 Kentucky Derby.

QR has had feet issues which took him out of the triple crown chase but when he's been feeling all good and back on dirt that horse can fly. No chance he'll be retired simply because of a single race scratch. If he does retire at the end of 2009 it will be because of the quarter crack issue or other health related factor.

Doesn't actually matter whose fault it is, Glimmerglass--a meltdown that serious would give anyone pause, and a horse in that state of panic is liable to kill itself (and anyone nearby). If it were my horse, I'd be giving serious thought to whether it should race again or not.

[Drvmb1ggl3]

This wasn't an isolated incident. Remember him being a pain in the ass to load in the Travers and in the JCGC. He unseated Velasquez behind the gate at Saratoga.

Spanish Moon who raced in the BC Turf is banned for six months from racing in his native GB (ban expires in December). In the meantime he has loaded in France and the US .

[Timex]

I watched QR load just fine here at saratoga a few mornings. Apparently its a race day thing.

[Peggy]

Even more impressive view on the video linked above b/c you can see more clearly what he was doing in the gate and that the guy outside the gate actually grabbed him as he came out.

My thought when watching it on Saturday was that it could have gotten very very ugly if a few people hadn't been on the ball.

[Polydor]

It's not like they have "schooling" races!

Australia has "schooling" races called trials. Pretty sure they are open to any horse but more oftenly used by the 2/3 yrs when they first start racing. They are required to do a couple before they are entered in their first race.

Does north america not have anything like these??

P.

[foundationmare]

I always appreciate the work of the assistant starters. My son is one. He's a good one, takes his job seriously and has compassion for the horses. He's been beat up more times than I can remember.

We're coming up on the anniversary of the death of Leon Reed who was double barreled by a horse who was loading into the gate.

Call me a wuss....if they don't want to do it, there is a reason.

[SleepyFox]

Australia has "schooling" races called trials. Pretty sure they are open to any horse but more oftenly used by the 2/3 yrs when they first start racing. They are required to do a couple before they are entered in their first race.

Does north america not have anything like these??

P.

In the US we do have schooling races (that's actually what they are called). They're not required prior to starting here. Not every track has them, either.