Assigning Horses to the Starting Gate

[Sparky13]

I was looking at a past completed chart for a race at Thistledown on 9/16/11. I noticed in this race and few other races throughout the years, the horses in the starting gate were not in according to their cloth number. In this race, the horses were to be loaded in this order: 3, 1, 4, 2, 5, 6, 2B, 1A (the 2B and 1A were scratched). Why are horses wearing a Number 1 not in the first stall and so forth (2, 3, 4, etc.)? Thanks

[cj]

I was looking at a past completed chart for a race at Thistledown on 9/16/11. I noticed in this race and few other races throughout the years, the horses in the starting gate were not in according to their cloth number. In this race, the horses were to be loaded in this order: 3, 1, 4, 2, 5, 6, 2B, 1A (the 2B and 1A were scratched). Why are horses wearing a Number 1 not in the first stall and so forth (2, 3, 4, etc.)? Thanks

Post positions are drawn before program numbers are established. If there is an entry (like there were above), they are assigned program numbers 1, 1A, then 2, 2B, then the rest follow in post position order.

With no entries, post postions and program numbers should match. But entries change everything.