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I've noticed a common comment in the charts is "hit gate". It seems that horses that have this comment do not lose more often than expected in general. Yet this must be more traumatic than breaking through. The gates are designed to open fairly easily if the horse puts pressure on them precisely to avoid hurting the horse if it breaks through. Yet when the horse hits the gate during the start the side it hits has no such give and would have a more negative effect on the horse. I wonder if a study that shows no significant effect of hitting the gate would indicate there should be no more negative effect of breaking through, which is less hurtful to the horse?
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