Is the post time of a race the point where the horses are annoiunced? Whee they are loaded into the gates in preparation for the race? Or when the race is started?
If the post time is 6:38 p.m. EDT, at what time will the actual race begin?
From here:
It appears that it is some of part one and some of part two of your question. Minor races, the horses arrive in a group. Major races, such as the Belmont, Preakness, Kentucky Derby, it seems the horses are introduced and loaded individually to give props to the owner and trainer. Depending on how long this takes, the actual race could be 5-10 minutes or more after the announced post time. I think all betting ceases at post time as well.
Before the race, there is an estimated post time. Races are about a half hour apart and, especially on weekdays, things stay on schedule.
However, things can and do delay the post time past the estimated time. The official post time is the time the starting gate opens and the race begins, which is when all bets are closed.
Just a note for anyone thinking that the Preakness was run way after the announced post time a couple weeks ago: that race was delayed a fair bit when one of the horses (Rock Hard Ten?) threw a shoe and they took him back to a blacksmith to reshoe him.
Why would they do that? Shouldn’t that just be hard luck? Horses get scratched all the time right up to post time. What would they have done had it not been a major?
No idea how standard a practice it is. I’d never seen it happen before, but I never watch horseracing except for the Derby, Preakness, and Belmont. It was only a 20-30 minute delay, and it’s not much different than letting a jockey replace a ripped bridle or some such. Equipment time out, as it were.
I suppose I could look up the rule, but there is a rule about equipment failure during post time. There’s probably a judgment call on the part of the racing stewards. Generally, if there is an equipment failure, the team is allowed a certain amount of time to repair the equipment during post time.
I used to go to a lot of horse races. There is a ritual before each race.
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Horses enter the paddock area about 15 minutes before the race, the team saddles the horse and tries to keep him/her calm.
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The team walks the horse around the paddock circle, again trying to keep the horse calm and get him/her used to the crowd.
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A steward calls “riders up” about 10 minutes before the race, the jockeys mount their horses and they continue walking the horse around in the circle.
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Then there is the “call to post”, this is when the horses will parade from the paddock to the track. This is when you get that famous horse racing bugle call.
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The horses are led onto the track with an out-rider (another horse with a rider that maintains control of the race horse).
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The out-riders usually lead the horse walking slowly onto the track. Then slowly but surely they pick up the pace, to warm the race horse up.
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After about 5 minutes of warm up, the horses begin their single-file walk to the gate.
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Once the first horse passes the gate, and turns to load into his stall, the announcer will say, “they’re at the post”.
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The horses enter their stalls, one at a time, from the first stall (nearest the inside rail), to the last.
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When it gets to the last horse, a steward at the gait will yell, “one out”, advising the other riders that the race is about to begin.
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When the last horse is loaded, the steward at the gate will yell, “all in”.
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The steward in front of the gate will raise a flag, signaling all horses are loaded safely, and the race can begin. Sometimes you will hear the announcer say, “the flag is up”.
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Then a steward pushes a button that rings a bell, this automatically locks all betting machines, opens the front gates on the stalls, and the races has officially begun.
Now, what exactly is “post time”, I’m not sure. It’s either the time they are “called to post” or the time they are “entering their stalls at the gate”. In any event, it is an approximate time.
Thanks for the replies. (Deb and the SIL were negotiating for the start time of an evening out, with Deb trying to push it back behind the race so she could watch it. Unfortunately, the SIL trumped her with a pre-scheduled babysitter, so we left long before post time, much less the race.)