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rail, others following in order. “I don’t have horses ‘turn and go,’ “ Newman said. “1 have them walk four or five steps before starting.”
Flag starts are becoming the rule again. For a number of years, an elastic tape was stretched across the course and electronically released to begin the race, but starters, and horsemen, began to realize that more equipment was apt to more failure, and simple flag starts are gaining popularity.
“Flat footed starts are best,” Newman opined. “Some day 1 hope American riders, and horses, can manage that. But for now, we do walk-up starts.”
As a “safety device,” starters use a recall flag up the track. For a start to be official, both flags must drop, Many riders may believe that the first one went down, but well up the track, if the recall flag is still up, the race is not actually started.
“Starters have the most unforgiving job on the racecourse,” said Coley Blind, a long-time starting official at Maryland flat tracks. “The choice of words a starter uses is most important to their success rate. To say ‘no, no, no, OK GO! is all wrong. Consistency is the key. That makes it all fair.”
Patrol Judges
Once riders start on their way in a race, they come under careful scrutiny of not only official, ruling stewards, but of patrol judges, too.
“We act as the eyes and ears of the stewards,” explained Jack
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