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Race Starting Times and Punctuality
With around 9000 races taking place on British racecourses each year, it's vitally important that start times are effectively scheduled and accurately adhered to.
Around 15 months before the first races are even run, an entire year's Fixture List is analysed by the Authority’s Racing Department, to ensure that each race is allocated the best possible starting time for the day it is scheduled.
With anything up to six fixtures regularly taking place around the country on a given day, it's important that the races are evenly spread, taking into account the daylight hours available (or from what time floodlights might be required), the needs of the companies who will broadcast them, and even the impact it might have on other races run outside of the UK.
On raceday itself, the Clerk of the Course posts a clearly defined timetable for the day in the racecourse Weighing Room and the Racecourse Stable Yard. This timetable details the exact times by which Jockeys and Trainers are expected to have left the Weighing Room, be in the Parade Ring, have a horse on the track, and then be down at the Start for each race. The racing industry recognises that the responsibility for the punctuality of off times is a collective one, and Jockeys, Trainers and Officials (both BHA and racecourse based) are well aware of its importance - not only to punters but also to racing's income.
Of course, in a sport where animals are involved, it is inevitable that on occasion, circumstances beyond management control will arise that cause a delay. A horse might lose a shoe and need it replacing by the Racecourse Farrier, be reluctant to go forward into the Starting Stalls, or even get loose at or on its way down to the start. Likewise, there might be a benefit to deliberately delaying a race if, for example, a fixture has been abandoned elsewhere, or two races might be about to clash because of delay at another racecourse. A BHA protocol is in place to allow Stipendiary Stewards to minimise the occurrence of such clashes.
We know how important accuracy is, both to the racing industry and to the wider public - and we do everything we can to ensure that the vast majority of races go off as punctually as possible. It’s for this reason that a Stewards’ Enquiry is called automatically if a race goes off more than three minutes late, with BHA conducting follow-up work with those courses with higher rates of late off times. The Stewards can also impose a fine on anyone who they believe actively disregards the raceday timetable as posted by the Clerk of the Course in the Weighing Room.
With regard to the animals themselves, where Flat horses have regularly shown fractious behaviour at the Start, BHA Starters will require the horse to undergo an Official Stalls Test prior to its next run. Moreover, Trainers whose horses tend have a consistently poor record in this area may also be required to submit each of their horses for a Stalls Test the following year. Measures like these, coupled with the professionalism and effort of the industry as a whole, have seen the trend in British horseracing’s punctuality statistics continue to improve in recent years.
We work hard to make sure that races go off on time. Whilst the racecourses with a higher incidence of late off times usually have, for example, high numbers of televised races, pre-race parades and/or maiden races (where inexperienced horses may take longer to load into the starting stalls), we’re very aware that there’s still room for improvement. As such, the industry continues into 2010 with its initiative to work together in maximising the efficiency and punctuality of race timings.
Full list of races off 3 or more minute late
Download the full list of races which start 3 or more minutes late from 2005-2009, sorted by Racecourse.
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