Quarter horse starters can ensure good ending

Saturday night’s $102,000 Bank of America Texas Challenge will last barely 21 seconds, but the start of Sam Houston Race Park’s feature quarter horse race might decide who wins it.

In this 440-yard, all-out sprint, there’s no time to recover from a bad start. It’s hardly like a 1¼-mile thoroughbred race, where jockeys can relax horses behind leaders and still have plenty of time to win.

Starter Paul Stutes knows that “even a little hop at the break” can cost a quarter horse first prize of more than $50,000.

That’s why Stutes wants all 10 runners to burst from the gate with a fair chance to win.

“The best thing a starter can see is horses getting away evenly and speeding down the track in a straight line,” he said.

Stutes relies on assistant starters. In quarter horse racing, an assistant starter must be assigned to each runner. For the Bank of America, Stutes will have 10 assistants guiding the gate load.

“When horses come on the track (to warm up), I’ll look at each one,” he said. “If a horse is a little edgy, we’ll keep watching him. We try to identify horses that might give us trouble.

“We also check to see if any of the horses acted up in the paddock.”

In the final minute or two before horses enter the starting gate, a nervous or belligerent animal will hold the constant attention of Stutes and the assistant assigned to that horse.

“We always keep an eye on problem horses,” he said. “We want them relaxed when they go into the starting gate. I scan from inside out to see that each horse settles in before I push the start button. If there’s only one problem horse, I look at that one first. Then I continue to scan the whole field.”

Stutes likes to see what he calls a “bird-dogging” horse, one that calmly strolls into starting position, stares down the track and alertly awaits the starting bell.

“When we see horses like that,” Stutes said, “we know they won’t need much help. They make our crew members more like babysitters than assistant starters.”

Quarter horse jockeys grip reins with one hand and a hunk of mane with the other. When Stutes rings his bell, each gate bursts open and runners charge to the finish..

“That’s when I hope no horse lunges or stumbles,” he said. “We want all of them to have a fair chance to win.”

Jessies First Down was the fastest qualifier for the Bank of America. The winner will be SHRP’s representative in the $350,000 Bank of America Championship on Oct. 29 at Los Alamitos.

Saturday’s first race starts at 6:10. The Bank of America Texas Challenge ends the program.