Racing is facing trial. Hooray!

New practice It will help clean up sport's reputation

The words "barrier trial" won't stir excitement in the average reader, but this week they got the local horse-racing crowd sitting up and going "whaaaa.?"

Barrier trials are a big part of the racing scene in Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Singapore, but not this neck of the woods. Until now.

A barrier trial is a rehearsal for young horses, or those returning to the course after a break. The name refers to a test of a horse's ability to enter a starting stall, or barrier, and jump out the other side when the gate opens. For this, it gets a certificate of competency and the go-ahead to participate in a fully fledged race.

Still not stirred? Okay, the interesting part is, after jumping from the stalls, the lineup of horses carries on galloping in a full-on practice race, on a real racetrack, with conditions as close to a competitive contest as possible. Critically, the public can watch this gallop - live or on video - and assess the newcomers' abilities and chances in upcoming races.

Licensed jockeys and apprentices are in the saddle, wearing owners' silks, there is on-course commentary, precision timing is in operation and, in some places, the whole shebang is televised live.

The main difference to real racing is there's no prize money.

At present, this sort of rehearsal is done behind closed doors, so to speak, with only specific training staff in on the secret of how good, or how fit, horses might be.

Gold Circle, operator of racing in KwaZulu-Natal, announced the introduction of barrier trials at Greyville and Scottsville from November - to be staged before the start of regular race meetings.

The redoubtable Paul Lafferty, trainer and Gold Circle director, told Turf Talk website: "There are many advantages to barrier trials and the most important of all is that it will go a long way to restoring public confidence in racing. There is a perception that racing is crooked . We want to eliminate the perception of unfairness so that the people who wager money on races can be assured they are on an equal footing, they have all the necessary information at hand before they put their cash down.

"There are trainers who withhold information on their runners to plan so-called 'betting coups'. I said to them yesterday: 'How many coups have any of you actually pulled off? I don't see any helicopters parked at your stables. Forget the betting coups, those days are over. We need new owners in the game!'

"There will be teething problems . incidents where actual race results won't reflect results of trials, but the trials will establish form patterns for stables which punters will be able to follow with reliable results. They will be able to see which stables bring their horses to hand faster or slower compared to others, and so on. The main issue, however, remains the aspect of public confidence. The betting public wishes to see that the operator is doing everything it can to help them win!"

Being helped to win is hugely exciting.

Trials will be over 1000m on racetracks proper, at weight-for-age, with stipendiary stewards in charge. Trial runners must be fully ridden out, but whips won't be necessary, reports Turf Talk.

This innovation is for serious punters and students of the game, and it might bring extra complications to betting, but it is a Very Good Thing in terms of cleaning up racing's reputation.

There's welcome changes of scenery this weekend, with night racing returning to Greyville this evening and the first meeting on a revamped Durbanville course tomorrow. Time, too, for a change in betting fortunes?