Posted Friday, March 5, 2010
By Mike Paradise
A month of racing has come and gone since the “Quick Start” experiment was installed at the start of the season by Maywood Park management “to increase the handle on the outside horses” by beginning it’s races 175 feet—about 58 yards—ahead of the old starting point.
Since I don’t have the data on much money has been wagered on individual posts at Maywood I’m not certain the earlier start line has or hasn’t increased the handle on the 6, 7 and 8 horses. However, I am certain that unless the appropriate changes are made you can call what’s currently going on at the circuit’s half-miler the “Quick Farce.”
The track should either return to the old starting point where horses actually raced one mile, or keep its new starting line and move its finish line and the first and third quarter pole up 175 feet and time their races correctly.
As it is now the timer doesn’t start until horses reach at the old starting line meaning horses compete at one mile and approximately 58 yards in a race, not the one mile stated at the top of the official track program and on all the Maywood Park horses’ past performance lines.
Maywood’s first quarter times are off by 50 plus yards, meaning the times are also incorrect for horses at the half-mile and three–quarter poles. Plus the final time on each winner is not for the one mile—as printed—but for one mile and approximately 58 yards.
We call our horses “Standardbreds” because decade after decade our horses have been trained and raced at the “Standard Distance of One Mile.”
I seriously doubt that every person who has been playing Maywood this season made their wagers knowing the track’s races are longer than the one mile listed and that the track’s timer doesn’t begin until 58 yards further down the track than where horses currently take off.
According to Illinois Racing Board Adopted Rules, Section 415.40 under Harness Programs in section b), “the following additional information will be furnished (under No. 5):
“Accurate performance or chart lines, including qualifying races, shall show; date of race; race track; size of the track if other than a half-miler; symbol for free-legged pacer; track condition; type of race; distance; the fractional times of the leading horse; post position; position at one-quarter; one-half; three-quarters; stretch with lengths behind leader; finish with lengths behind leader; individual time of the horse’s name of the driver; names of the horses placed first, second and third, and where appropriate, workouts ordered by the stewards or judges. The standard symbols for “breaks” and horses “parked out” shall be used where applicable.”
Has all of this information been correctly printed in Maywood’s programs since the inception of its “Quick Start?” Or have Maywood’s players not been properly informed.
You make your call.
I made mine.
It’s the “Quick Farce.”
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