Question for CJ
 

I know nobody knows more about teletimers than you. I have a question as it relates to Hidden Scroll, who is entered in the Jaipur tomorrow at Belmont.

Anyone who watched the 8th race at Belmont on June 3, a 1 mile turf NW2X, saw that Hidden Scroll dumped John Velasquez shortly after the start. After collecting himself, Hidden Scroll ran off and made the lead. It maybe took a quarter mile for him to get the lead, but he made it easily. Opened up a fairly large margin on the turn, only to tire and get outfinished by all the other runners, despite a 115 lb or so weight break. Not that it mattered, as a horse has to keep the rider to have their finish count....but what about the fractional times? The race shows a pretty strong pace, 46 2/5 and 1:09 4/5.

Would Hidden Scroll trip the timer so that those fractions reflect him since he was on the horse in front? Or is there so way they discount a leader who doesn't have a rider?

The beam has to be activated by an operator so that it is turned on as the horses approach the point a time is recorded. In the case of Hidden Scroll, he was clear enough that it was easy to wait for him to clear it before activating the system.

It is tougher when a horse isn't clear at all calls, even at the finish. I often adjust for that manually.

These were the official times:

23.12, 46.48, 1:09.94, 1:34.11

Trakus, which would not be affected by the loose horse, has it a little faster, but that is normal for Trakus.

22.94, 46.23, 1:10.27, 1:33.79

The 3/4 time would concern me a little bit since it was faster on the beam, but in this case the loose horse had been reeled in almost at that exact moment so I don't think it is an issue.

Learned something new today. Thx CJ

Thanks

Good question and good answer.

Yeah, go to the casino side......:lol:

That’s where the guy with the button is........drinking


But let’s leave Gulfstream out of this

So, how fast did Hidden run?

And for you, JR.

Hidden Scroll ran well for 4 furlongs. He ended up dead last, beaten 15 lengths. I guess if they are hell bent on staying on turf they can run 4 1/2 furlongs at Mountaineer.