Canterbury Park was the first USA track in modern times to eliminate the “run-up”
South African fans are probably bemused by how fast One Stripe’s time was for his mile event at Gulfstream Park on Friday as 91-and-a-half seconds would be an unheard of time for a turf mile in South Africa.
The explanation is that in America many horse races still have “run-ups”.
The Gulfstream Park mile on Friday had an 85 foot run-up.
This means the starting stalls are positioned 85 feet away from the mile point and the official timing of the race only starts when the leading horse breaks an electronic eye beam or other means of timing at the mile point.
Races over all distances in America and at all tracks had run-ups added to the official distance of the race at one stage, although some tracks have now eliminated the run-up.
The horses are obviously going at pace when reaching the official start of a race that has a run-up, which is as opposed to a standing start in South Africa, and hence the generally faster official times at a lot of tracks in America.
Run-ups have caused a lot of controversy and one pundit summed it up by saying, “Run-up distances are one of those difficult-to-fathom ‘only in horse racing’ concepts.”
The following three articles sum up the controversy:
Analyst Pat Cummings explains why run-ups are “simply wrong”
“Run-ups cause inaccuracies that are an affront to integrity” – Paulick Report
Gulfstream’s Change of Run-Up Distances Makes Big Win Harder To Quantify
In 2023 Canterbury Park became the first track in the modern history of North American racing to time Thoroughbred races from the break of the gate, eliminating “run-up” distances, and some other tracks have followed suit.
“Accuracy matters. This is a watershed moment for American racing,” said Thoroughbred Idea Foundation executive director Patrick Cummings at the time of Canterbury Park’s decision. “For more than a century, we have endured inaccuracy in racing’s most fundamental data points – time and distance. The inconsistencies created by running and timing races with run-ups are too numerous to count, but this Is a much-needed first step towards embracing accuracy – for horseplayers, horse owners and any stakeholder in the sport.”
