RACING FORUM

Posted: **Tue Aug 22, 2023 9:03 am**

Don’t you all think its about time that race distances were run and published over proper distances. Ever since the BHA or whoever was administering racing decided to make the racecourses re measure the point where they place the starting stalls we have had races run over obscure distances.
The Derby 1m4f6y (it needs to be 1m4f), the Gold Cup 2m3f210y, (why not 2m4f) This weeks International 1m2f56y. Quite why the guys measuring the tracks didn’t just lie about it I don’t know. They could have said yes it OK we have been running over the correct trip and just made sure they got it right next time.
The argument put forward was that by keeping the distances as they were i.e. wrong, would mean the times and standard times would be consistent. Of course this is wrong. The only way they could be consistent would be if they knew when they started to go wrong and even then it would be difficult to say it would be consistent. How do we know that the Derby for example has been run over 1m 4f 6ys all the time. We don’t, it might have been run over marginally different distances longer or shorter we have no clue.
Even if we could claim consistency it is still perfectly possible to run these races over the correct trip and adjust the times. What is wrong with mile and a half races or mile and a quarter races its what we all talk about anyway. The St Leger is one of the worst cases as it has been run over 1m 6f 115 y for quite a while when it was introduced in its current format the distance was supposed to be 1m 6f 193y it’s a huge difference when you think a horse can win or loose a race by a few pixels on a digital image.
I am off to Italy later so I thought I would throw that in for discussion.