PACEMAKERS, TEAM TACTICS & THE GREY AREAS OF HORSE RACING
Horse racing is not always as straightforward as it looks.
While most punters turn up expecting a fair contest of speed, stamina, and jockey skill, the reality can be far more complicated.
Take the recent Sussex Stakes at Goodwood in the UK.
The 150-1 outsider Qirat was meant to be little more than a pacemaker — a horse entered to ensure an honest tempo for the stable’s more fancied runner.
Instead, he shocked the racing world by refusing to come back to the field and storming home a Group 1 winner.
Stories like this shine a light on the controversial role of pacemakers. On paper, their job is simple: set an even pace that allows the “real” contenders to run to their strengths. In practice, however, things can get murky.
“I feel like a villain, but when I saw it wasn’t a grey nose coming towards me I kept going,” said the winning rider. “Ultimately, we were there as a helping hand to go an even gallop and we were somewhat ignored early then took a lead off Wayne Lordan.
“Towards the cutaway I was thinking he was going well, but you always expect the horses rated 20lb higher to be coming through. I could see Rosallion coming, but my horse kept pulling out.
Here’s something we find really ‘interesting’ about the use of pacemakers. Bets are accepted on ‘pacemaker’ horses even though the jockeys have been instructed to only set the pace – they have no intention of attempting to win on them.
Their purpose is to help others win…
How is that fair to those betting on ‘pacemakers’ who don’t realize their purpose in the race?
In Australia, the rules are clear: each horse must be run on its own merits. That means no horse can be sacrificed to help another, no matter who owns or trains them.
The idea of “team tactics” — one horse burning up the leaders to set up another from the same stable, or creating gaps that favour a particular runner — is explicitly against the spirit and safety of the sport.
And yet, questions linger.
Is pacemaking happening here under the radar?
Some argue it is — not openly declared as in the UK, but subtly at play in races where certain horses seem to do the hard work up front only to fold conveniently when their stablemate comes swooping past.
Whether by design or by chance, Qirat’s victory at Goodwood shows why pacemakers are both fascinating and controversial.
Sometimes the “rabbit” doesn’t stop running.
Sometimes the horse meant to make the race instead wins it outright.
And sometimes what looks like fair competition is really something else altogether.
One thing is certain: pacemaking ensures that horse racing is rarely as simple as it seems.
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We’ve been threatened by those in the horse racing industry and those who benefit from horse slaughter more times than we can count.
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