It is a nuisance on many race days and a trigger for whopping delays: The runaway of horses at the starting point. They become riderless and run endless extra laps around the track. In many cases, the four-legged creatures cannot be controlled and there is a risk of injury. Even in Munich, which has an excellent team of start helpers, there were several such incidents on Dallmayr race day. It is particularly annoying when you are also part of a live broadcast to France. It can also happen that you get kicked off the glider in the neighbouring country because of the delay.
The problem is known, but what can be done about it? We don`t expect that, as in the USA, where things are usually extremely punctual and the impressioning is enormously fast, escort horses will walk alongside the take-off horses until they have taken their place in the aircraft. Even though that would be the ideal case, of course, the horse and manpower is hardly available anywhere.
But on both sides of the take-off machine you could again stretch a tape so that the horses can`t get too far away. You see this time and again abroad. And then the horses would have to approach the starting point earlier in some cases. In Bad Harzburg, the riders had to be asked several times to trot there because they were calmly somewhere else.
The riders also have to think ahead in order to keep to the schedule. The procedure at the starting point at the Derby was exemplary, where they were on time to the second. That means starting on time and then continuing in a concentrated manner. This is also a challenge for the starter. Certainly, the starting assistants are not to be envied for their job. They risk their health for little money. Therefore, a few steps are necessary to make their work easier. And to enable us to have punctual start times.
