interesting fact-let

[46zilzal]

Big things are facts, smaller ones are factlets.
Clay Puett (1899-1998) was the inventor of the enclosed electric starting gate used at all major thoroughbred race tracks around the world. On July 1, 1939, Puett's invention made its debut at Exhibition Park, Vancouver, British Columbia. It was an immediate success. By the end of 1940, Puett's gate was a fixture at all major North American race tracks.
Actually I had a patient, a real crusty old fellow who was a welder for the Canadian National Railway who had another prototype he sold to Santa Anita for $5000 that got his family thought the depression. Even showed me his patent model he kept in the basement. When I mentioned the name Puett (he had had a stroke) the only words out of his mouth were Thief!

[bigmack]

His company still makes them in Phoenix
http://www.truecentergate.com/gates.html

Depending on their durability I can't imagine they fly off the shelves. Salesmen calls various tracks: So do you need a new gate yet, or what?

[46zilzal]

The starter told me that many were made of used jeep parts and other metal from Army surplus. When they needed parts there were none available so they had to bring in a welders and machinists to make them from scratch.

[kenwoodallpromos]

They have to be durable if they are used thousands of times per year at big tracks, both for races and workouts?
That guy telling you the story is not alone; ,ost mass produced inventions were probalby an improved form of some crude version a shop inventor made! The credit maybe goes to the best marketer!

[DanG]

The starter told me that many were made of used jeep parts and other metal from Army surplus. When they needed parts there were none available so they had to bring in a welders and machinists to make them from scratch.
46,

If you have an in, see if you can suggest a little more padding (in some cases ANY padding would be an improvement). Why should an animal be able to rear up and clang in their dome on the equivalent of a frying pan? :confused:

Not to mention a nation wide movement for 12 max (Adjustable, considering track width) and use the additional space to widen each stall.

Spent some time on the top of the hill at Santa Anita watching the gate crew closely and that is really an incredibly hazardous and confined space that horse / rider and starter don’t appreciate. Not to mention the unnecessary chaotic element it introduces to us the gambler.

[46zilzal]

46,

If you have an in, see if you can suggest a little more padding (in some cases ANY padding would be an improvement). Why should an animal be able to rear up and clang in their dome on the equivalent of a frying pan?


First of all there is a lot of padding. It is the same color as the vertical posts so it blends in. MANY horses now require extra padding beyond that so the crew adds big pads to the sides of each stall with bungy cords, not to mention the sheepskin pad they drape over some the horse's hind quarters and attached to the rear of the gate, and as they break it stays behind.

The crew holds onto the tail in an effort to keep them from rearing and they maintain a "bad actor" list. Over the weekend, one on this list was blind-folded, made to circle 6 or 7 times to lose any orientation, and then went in fine. I believe the blind-fold should be use more often than it is.

The adjustable width is a good idea, but I doubt it would work as the least amount of sideways motion available to these horses and they would take it having their bodies sideways to the start. There would be more than a fair share of poor starts that way. The narrow part of the gate is BENEATH the body of the horse at about the level of the tops of their legs.

[46zilzal]

One thing that I did not know. Of course gates have to be re-positioned all the time and at the far end of the gate there is a steering wheel akin to one on a long hook and ladder fire engine. While this is great for mobility, it allows a substantial torque in the gate if left alone.

Once in position, there are legs that drop down (much like when a tractor leaves a trailer in a yard on those two small legs that drop down to take up the room where the tractor would have been). The crew balances these legs with a wooden block so that when the horses push out against the gate, there will be a minimal longitudinal torque available. Because the force of each break moves that stability, the crew has to re-position the gate after each race.

[DanG]

First of all there is a lot of padding. It is the same color as the vertical posts so it blends in.
I bow to your expertise in this area, but there was not a lot of padding when I was around the gates in the 80’s. I was in the gates so it wasn’t camouflaged by color. Not what I would consider sufficient anyway.

The entire mechanism always seemed primitive to me. But then again…when we watch newsreel footage of past races, :eek: I guess we have much to be thankful for. :)

[46zilzal]

Whatever they use, it is in a horse's nature not to like enclosed spaces. NONE of them enjoy that for long. Kudo's to the crew that gets them in there quickly and without injury. We lost a guy on Saturday: don't know if he broke his arm of what, but he was missing on Sunday and Monday.

[46zilzal]

Here is an example of how the padding is distributed in the newer gates. It is around the horse, along the vertical posts and behind the animal as well.

[kenwoodallpromos]

Now? Any particular reason why Now?

[fergie]

Informative and interesting. A subject in the area of racing that most of us as players know little or nothing about. Thanks for sharing!!!
Fergie

[Hosshead]

The padding of starting gates was instigated by a tragic accident in Jan. 1975, (Santa Anita) when a horse reared in the gate and knocked the jockeys head very hard against the steel of the gate, killing him.
It took awhile to make the change, but it was long overdue.

The jockey was Alvaro Pineda, .. Pincay"s best friend.
I was there that day and will never forget it.

[tomcalta]

I thought the tracks were going to end starters from riding in the stocks of the starting gate following a start. Havent there been alot of deaths from assistant starters being run over by the gate the past few years?