Thoroughbred/quarter Horse Racing
The inventor of the electric starting gate for horse racing is credited to Clay Puett, who was a rider and starter at various tracks in the West. Puett's device replaced other starting methods used previously such as starting barriers, which were simple ropes or occasionally wooden barriers behind which the horses stood, or even simpler methods such as standing behind a chalk line to await a starter's flag. These previous methods often did little to produce a fair start, with extra judges employed to catch horses who got a jump on the rest of the field.
Many of Puett's actual gates are still in use today at tracks around the world, and all gates are based on his original design. A starting gate is equipped with a number of stalls aligned in a row, usually numbering 12 or 14 for everyday use at tracks. Smaller gates may be used at training facilities for schooling horses, or as an auxiliary gate in addition to the main gate for large-field races such as the Kentucky Derby. Horses normally enter from the rear of the stall, with gates locked behind the horse once it is in place; the front gates of the stall are normally closed as the horse is loaded in, though the starting-gate crew may open it in order to entice a horse who balks at entry. Alternately, a horse may be backed into the stall from the front entry, again done in the case of a skittish horse.
The front door of each stall is held closed by an electric lock. The stall doors are designed to give way in case a horse prematurely attempts to bolt through the front or back, in order to reduce or prevent injury to horse or rider.
When the starter is satisfied that all horses are in place and ready to start the race, he presses a button, cutting the electric current, simultaneously opening the front stall doors, ringing a loud bell, and sending a signal to the totalizator system that the race is begun and no more bets should be accepted.
Puett's gate was first used at Exhibition Park in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1939, though the management of Bay Meadows in San Mateo, California claims that their track was the first to use Puett's gate. By the end of 1940, virtually all major race tracks in the United States used Puett gates. Clay Puett began another company, True Center Gate, in 1958 based in Phoenix, Arizona. True Center and Puett's original company (first known as Puett Electric Gate company, now as United) currently account for most starting gate installations in North America. True Center also has gates in South America, the Caribbean and Saudi Arabia.
While starting gates are standard for flat racing, steeplechase tracks frequently still use earlier forms of starting barriers.
Read more about this topic: Starting Gate
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