Tampa Starting Gate question

[RainMan]

Feb 25th Tampa 8th race - 9 horse field no scratches. The #1 is positioned correctly then there is an empty stall where the #2 horse should be - all the runners 2-9 are moved over and the #s are hung correctly over the gate. This seems like a huge advantage for the #1 horse who was early speed and went on to win at a price. I have seen races where all runners were moved over in the gate but never a "gap" between horses. Are there any rules for loading horses in the gate?

[cj]

All I can figure is that there was a problem with that particular stall. I've never seen that situation before where a gap was left. Even though the 1 won the race easily, it doesn't look like it gave the horse any kind of advantage the way the race was run.

[BarchCapper]

Originally Posted by cj

All I can figure is that there was a problem with that particular stall. I've never seen that situation before where a gap was left. Even though the 1 won the race easily, it doesn't look like it gave the horse any kind of advantage the way the race was run.

For this case, as noted, likely a problem with the stall itself.

For late scratch situations, I like the way they do it overseas. If there's a late scratch - just take that horse out, get it out of the way in the chute, paddock or off the track, and keep loading them and let them go without all this silly delay of changing around of numbers and stalls. If there's a gap, so be it.