The Starting Gate

   It's been said that more races are lost at the starting gate than anywhere on the track and I am inclined to believe it.
   Even though I am a spot player and scan anywhere form 50 to 150 races in a day and only come up with a couple of plays per day, it's uncanny how many of these plays get off to a bad start. I notice that most of the poor beginnings are with horses in the middle post positions. A horse on either side comes out and swerves and drives the horse alongside into another horse which sometimes sets up a chain reaction. Horses down on the rail are also subject to getting squeezed and bumped at the start.
   These bad starts are all too common in my opinion. Sometimes in a route race the horse is able to recover and have time to get into the race but in sprints, especially 5f races, a bad start means the race is usually over for that horse. Also, most jocks have a tendency to try to rush the horse into contention after a slow start and the horse is finished by the time it hits the stretch.
   I watch a lot of races and it seems like in about 50% of all races run, one or more entries run into trouble at the gate. Although I am only playing a couple spots per day I think that about 10-20 % of my plays run into trouble coming out of the gate. If I'm only looking to get 20-25 % winners with my plays these additional losers that are eliminated at the start take a heavy toll on my bottom line.
   I wouldn't think there is anything that can be done about it because the starting gate and all that happens in it are beyond any handicappers control. I suppose one could concentrate on only playing horses that show they are usually first out of the gate but this would severely limit your action. The problems at the gate are a blessing in disguise to a lot of fast breaking horses because they are sometimes able to get such a jump on the field that the race is over before anyone else can get into gear.
   At any rate, the gate problems are just one of the many reasons one can never expect to attain a very high win % and is an especially good reason to NEVER plunge on any horse. When trainers are asked about the chances of their horses in any race the first thing they usually say is that they are hoping for a clean break.
   Watch carefully to see if your bet got a clean start. You may not have bet the wrong horse if it loses but may have just been a victim of the starting gate chaos