delays in tapes being released no issue for jca and stipes

[the galah]

the jca ruling into a 2-3 second delay of the 10m tape being released in the motukarara christmas cup,made for interesting reading.

Apparently,a 2-3 second delay is perfectly normal acocrding to the stipes and the jca has no isssue with such delays.

k butt,the driver of kiss the girls noted her horse went to move when the front tape was released,but because her 10m tape hadn't been released due to a 2-3 second delay ,with the starters assistant i guess still waiting for the smoke signal,,she felt her horse was inconvienenced and that the delay was primarily the reason why her horse broke.

you can also see iin the video the 20m horses were moving before the 10m horses and they too had to hesitate when they came up behind the 10m horses in front of them. 

apparently the 2-3 second delaywasn't normal for that tape as it went at the right time.

What was also noticeable at the time was a horse on the 20m ,as per normal at motukarara,had to side step a starters assistant standing directly in front of it after the start,with the starters assistant  unsure which way to go so as not to get run over.That confused the horse and driver who was about to run him/her over.

and it also appeared a starters assisatnt at the back of the field was doing some stretching exercises as he held his hands up high. Maybe he had noticed the delay and was trying to signal something. Someone may need to tell him a 2-3 second delay is normal.

and it raises the question,if the starter,the stipes and the jca think its fine to have a 2-3 second delay,why did they have a false start at westport a couple of days before.After all the same thing happened there.

Also,the stipes report from westport noted the satrters assitants werwe given advice about that. Was the advise,don't worry about a 2-3 second delay.,as its perfactly normal and acceptable.If it wasn't and was advice on how to release a tape at the same time as the starter does,well i dunno,but whoever the starters assitants are,they didn't get the memo.

the whole thing just sounds ridiculous,but its what happened. 

Edited Saturday at 05:48 AM by the galah

[Brodie]

The standing starts in the South Island are atrocious and yet they continue to program them?

Over the Xmas period there have been far too many false starts and are consistently inconsistent!

How on earth the starter is allowed to continue to dish up this amateur stuff is really quite disturbing for the harness industry!

And yet a driver is over vigorous in the Stipes opinion gets fined or suspended, but the employees of HRNZ are allowed to get away with substandardness?

[Withadream2]

3 hours ago, Brodie said:

substandardness?

I love that word Brodie.  Should be word of the year so far. 

[Brodie]

1 hour ago, Withadream2 said:

I love that word Brodie.  Should be word of the year so far. 

The state or condition of being substandard!

The fact remains that the standing starts have been substandard mostly for years!

Punters are being misled or misrepresented by HRNZ by calling them standing starts when mostly they are far from that!

Yes some horses stand and others are charging or moving it is just a bag of licorice allsorts as to what you get!

Surely it isn't that hard?

Edited Saturday at 11:43 AM by Brodie

[the galah]

10 hours ago, Brodie said:

The state or condition of being substandard!

The fact remains that the standing starts have been substandard mostly for years!

Punters are being misled or misrepresented by HRNZ by calling them standing starts when mostly they are far from that!

Yes some horses stand and others are charging or moving it is just a bag of licorice allsorts as to what you get!

Surely it isn't that hard?

the biggest issues seem to come in races where there are big fields and multiple hand held tapes.

in a previous topic on the motukarara starts ,relating to the month before,i gave what i thought were solutions.

The thing i find strange is that there seem to have been multiple recent examples of delays in the starters assistants releasing the tape they are holding on time..

surely that can't be that hard. You hang onto it,then you look at the starter as they line up and as he drops his hand you release the tape in unison.Whats so hard aboutb that?

And surely the starter is not going to say go when a starters assistant is looking the other way .

it seems such basic stuff,yet apparently they can't get it right and they need extra training on it.

and the stipes have come to think it normal and the stipes and jca say,well so what if your horse was disadvanteged by it,tough luck.

i mean,theyactually put it in writing in this jca decision that its ok  for a 2-3 second delay,yet expect a false start to be called in mobiles if a horse is 1/10 of that time out of position at the start.How does that make any sense.But it is the current reality.

of course its not just a canterbury thing.

the southland starter has on multiple occassions let them go when horses are 50-100 behind where they are supposed to start.i do understand where hes coming from sometimes as at least hes consistent in how he starts his races. Inconsistency can lead to confusuion.

the auckland cup was an example of some horses getting a running start,some not,some  out of position and that starter only had 8 to look at.

 

Edited Saturday at 10:08 PM by the galah

[Nowornever]

16 hours ago, the galah said:

the whole thing just sounds ridiculous,but its what happened.

Just make it up as you go should be their motto as that is what happens most of the time.

[Brodie]

Galah, I was going to make a comment about the Southland standing starts from where the Unruly horses start from lol.

You are correct they are often at least 60 metres from the front line horses and he lets them go?

They are getting paid for this crap?

Not a fair go for anyone!

How about some professionalism as it seems like it is just “ it doesnt matter” to them!

Brad Steele says nothing yet is supposedly in charge, but doesn't want to get off side with anyone by the look of it?

 

Edited Saturday at 11:19 PM by Brodie

[Blackie]

Credit where credit is due. Great standing start just now in the Roxburgh Cup

[Brodie]

1 hour ago, Blackie said:

Credit where credit is due. Great standing start just now in the Roxburgh Cup

The thing is the starter needs to command respect from the drivers, or they take the piss which is what happens most of the time!

It has come up so many times about the standing starts, the starters don’t  seem to care and it is anything goes most of the time!

High time the starters take it seriously and are professional, as they just arent currently!

Edited 23 hours ago by Brodie

[Nowornever]

3 hours ago, Blackie said:

Credit where credit is due. Great standing start just now in the Roxburgh Cup

Almost all the horses in that race are very good beginners so that helps as well.

[Shad]

On 3/01/2026 at 6:44 PM, the galah said:

the jca ruling into a 2-3 second delay of the 10m tape being released in the motukarara christmas cup,made for interesting reading.

Apparently,a 2-3 second delay is perfectly normal acocrding to the stipes and the jca has no isssue with such delays.

k butt,the driver of kiss the girls noted her horse went to move when the front tape was released,but because her 10m tape hadn't been released due to a 2-3 second delay ,with the starters assistant i guess still waiting for the smoke signal,,she felt her horse was inconvienenced and that the delay was primarily the reason why her horse broke.

you can also see iin the video the 20m horses were moving before the 10m horses and they too had to hesitate when they came up behind the 10m horses in front of them. 

apparently the 2-3 second delaywasn't normal for that tape as it went at the right time.

What was also noticeable at the time was a horse on the 20m ,as per normal at motukarara,had to side step a starters assistant standing directly in front of it after the start,with the starters assistant  unsure which way to go so as not to get run over.That confused the horse and driver who was about to run him/her over.

and it also appeared a starters assisatnt at the back of the field was doing some stretching exercises as he held his hands up high. Maybe he had noticed the delay and was trying to signal something. Someone may need to tell him a 2-3 second delay is normal.

and it raises the question,if the starter,the stipes and the jca think its fine to have a 2-3 second delay,why did they have a false start at westport a couple of days before.After all the same thing happened there.

Also,the stipes report from westport noted the satrters assitants werwe given advice about that. Was the advise,don't worry about a 2-3 second delay.,as its perfactly normal and acceptable.If it wasn't and was advice on how to release a tape at the same time as the starter does,well i dunno,but whoever the starters assitants are,they didn't get the memo.

the whole thing just sounds ridiculous,but its what happened. 

Very frustrating as a trainer an punter, your unruly horse steps like a champ, but oh no it's a false start, re run an it blows to bits, typical, happened to me with evangelist first day when at 40s plus, next to starts from mobile an is favourite, crazy, same happened to a with a trotter, needs to be resolved, shouldn't happen, surely must be some technology that can help,