| This also relates to another topic (trialling at Gosford) where an assessment of an overall time must also take in account the first sectional performance. A quick early time makes all the difference to the overall time, depending on interference or whether the dog has had to race abeam of a competitor - both of which slow things down. One exception to this is a veterans race where some runners may have lost a little bit of early toe but still manage to maintain their overall times. Of course, they tend not to hit each other as well. One last gasp - I wish clubs, authorities and trainers would all start ignoring the apparently popular run-home-times, for which the industry has paid millions to build more complex semaphore boards and the like. Published information on this absolutely useless unless you also know what the dog's position was at the start of that timing. Occasionally you will, more often you won't. And most folk will not know where that starting point is anyway. The value of that time is also dependent on what the dog did prior to that point - did it take its time or was it flat out in front, therefore using up an unknown amount of available energy? You can't burn the candle at both ends. Nor is it a good guide to handling a longer distance - ie it may well have finished its run when the post comes up.
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