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New Stalls Number Rules Set to Cause Havoc
03/12/10

Starting stalls in Britain are set be numbered in the opposite direction following an astounding decision by the British Horseracing Authority which they say has been taken to bring us in line with all other racing nations in the world, with the exception of Ireland, writes Elliot Slater.

Newmarket’s July Course was the first course to use starting stalls in 1965
© www.newmarketracecourses.co.uk

I had to check my calendar just to see that I hadn’t slept through the winter and woken up on April 1, before believing the news that means that all the well known draw advantages and biases that punters have learned over generations, are to be completely reversed with stalls set to be numbered from left-to-right as viewed from the stands, instead of the traditional right-to-left.

The rationale behind the decision according to those looking at irish racing tips is allegedly to help international punters who might be confused by the British system when placing bets on British races. The decision has resulted in tracks being classified officially as right or left-handed, even those that have a loop and have a section where runners go the reverse way down the track, (such as Hamilton or Salisbury), and Windsor, where they race on a figure of eight.

Have I been living on another planet, or haven’t Beverley, Carlisle, Folkestone, Leicester, Musselburgh, Ripon and Sandown always been right-handed tracks! Apparently a committee has been discussing the matter and after much deliberation has confirmed what my eyes and those of millions of others have known for generations, that these courses require a horse and jockey to race together in a clockwise direction.

How much are these people at the BHA being paid to come up with these balmy ideas as a way of trying to justify their roles? Don’t these executives understand that in trying to create a ‘one size fits all’ international racing model they are robbing British racing of what makes it so attractive to people around the word – it’s unique courses and many long established idiosyncrasies. The changes are certain to cause chaos and much ill will from the British and irish racing public before people adapt to the new routine.