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Actually, the run to the first turn may not be longer. While the clock starts at the start/finish line on the half mile track, the race actually starts when the car pulls away.
I randomly selected the first race on 5/28 to view the race and the car pulled away a full 7 seconds before the start of the race. This has been commonplace at Yonkers since they put the finish line at the end of the stretch.
I randomly checked the 8th race on 6/9 at the Meadowlands and the gate pulled away a fraction of a second before the start. Now you understand why horses may go faster at smaller tracks than at the Meadowlands.
Of course, the longer the run to the start, the faster the horses are going at the start, making for faster races. Unfortunately, there are no statistics on speed of the horse at the start, as WHEN the car pulls away is a variable and inconsistent at ALL tracks.
One thing for sure, the car will not be able to pull away nearly as early at Yonkers with the new configuration, because to do 7 seconds, the car would have to accelerate in the turn. Not gonna happen.
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