'We could do it every day' - non-standard racetimes meet with approval

The first trial of non-standard racetimes at British meetings on Saturday has received positive feedback from those involved.

The initiative has been launched in an effort to put an end to the upward trend of races going off late and to avoid clashes.

Musselburgh – where races were run at 12.57, 1.31, 3.52 and 4.26 – and Wetherby staged a total of ten races with non-standard times as part of Saturday's programme.

Wetherby's clerk of the course Jonjo Sanderson had no issues with the new times, and said: "It didn't present any challenges and if it helps improve the flow of the programme, aids broadcasters and helps betting turnover then that's great. We could do it every day if we have to."

Minella Rocco (left) beat last year's Foxhunter hero Hazel Hill at Wetherby on SaturdayCredit: John Grossick (racingpost.com/photos)

Of Wetherby's six races with non-standard times, two were off three minutes later than scheduled, although one was due to a wait for a farrier at the start. The other race started late because of the conclusion of the 4m1f Edinburgh National at Musselburgh.

Sanderson suggested the logistics of planning meetings could also be looked at, with racecourses and the BHA working collectively to produce an optimum timetable.

He added: "Once courses have submitted their programme and running orders to the BHA, they could overlay times and adapt the cards.

"For example, if we have a three-mile chase and Taunton also have one, we could ensure they do not go off within five minutes of each other. We could change running orders and gain a minute here or there."

Horseracing Bettors Forum chairman Colin Hord was also pleased with the start of the four week-long trial, and said on Monday: "We felt everyone put in a bit of extra effort to get races off on time, which was much appreciated.

Horseracing Bettors Forum chairman Colin Hord: 'We'll take a watching brief and see how things play out for the rest of the month'Credit: David Carr

"We'll take a watching brief and see how things play out for the rest of the month."

Bookmakers would also stand to benefit from fewer clashes and Coral's David Stevens said: "It's far too early to draw any firm conclusions from the introduction of non-standard race times after one day of the trial, although we were aware of the need to communicate fully to shop customers what was happening as the off times may have led to some confusion due to their necessarily unusual format.

"However we remain fully in favour of the concept because as stated beforehand, anything that helps reduce race clashes can only be a positive, and on such a busy and high-class Saturday afternoon of action, this trial can only have helped betting turnover. We very much look forward to the continuation of the trial and sharing the resulting data with relevant parties."

Paddy Power's Paul Binfield echoed those sentiments, and added: "We've only seen two meetings so far so it is a small sample for us to analyse the data and see whether betting volume was impacted in any way, but that is something we'll do and see how it goes. But from our perspective we definitely see these new times as a step in the right direction to avoid any clashes."

Doncaster and Huntingdon's cards on Thursday will be next to carry non-standard times.

Non-standard times make the sport look amateurish and second-rate

Racing Post tipster and journalist Richard Birch is not a fan of the non-standard start times

There is nothing wrong in principle with having greyhound racing-type off times for contests in Britain to avoid clashes with Ireland.

However, Musselburgh start times of 12.57, 1.31, 3.52 and 4.26, along with Wetherby's 1.03, 1.38, 2.12, 3.23, 3.58 and 4.33 on Saturday simply did not look right. It made the sport look amateurish and second-rate.

In terms of practicality, what happens when a horse spreads a plate two minutes before the designated start of a race?

What happens when the stewards take 20 minutes to decide eight fences must be omitted owing to low sun?

I could come up with plenty of other examples which happen on a regular basis that invariably result in delays to the start.

At present it's merely a trial, and the results will determine whether such spurious off-times will become the norm.

Common sense tells me that once the experiment has been completed it will be rapidly consigned to history.

Read this next:

Trial of new race times gets the thumbs-up from punters' group

Non-standard race times to be trialled in Britain and Ireland in February

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