Disaster Avoided After Gate Snafu
A scary chain of events took place, but there were no serious injuries, as a result of a starting gate malfunction on Saturday at the Charlottetown Driving Park
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The incident took place when the horses were released for the start of the second race. With the wings locked open and the starting gate in full speed, driver Frank Murphy made a spilt second decision to put the speeding gate through the first turn fence which was clear of spectators.
The gate went down the first turn embankment taking out another fence before coming to a stop near the side of a truck and horse trailer. Murphy and official starter Gerard Smith, who is seated in the back of the gate, walked away from crash with some minor cuts.
The men returned to their duties when the starting gate from Summerside arrived to complete the race program.
To view photos of the starting gate, click here.
(HRPEI)
I don't think it was Mr.
I don't think it was Mr. McCann's intention to ridicule at all - in fact I think he was trying to commend all Starting Gate Drivers. We give very little credit to the skill involved to perform these duties and these two incidents mentioned bring that to light. Although the drivers name was not published, I would personally like to thank him/them for their quick thinking and avoiding a possible major accident. Can you imagine the negative press Harness Racing would have got if there were multiple injuries to spectators, or even worse - one or more deaths. This could very well have been the case. Thank you driver.
We should take this opportunity to review the mechanism for starting gates and perhaps design a secondary form of closing the gate, perhaps manually from with in the car, to avoid such a recurrance, hense negating any negative press, Harness Racing can not afford bad publicity.
Mr. McCann should check some
Mr. McCann should check some facts before jumping to the conclusion the incidents at Federicton and Charlottetown are comparable. My understanding is that the mechanical malfunctions involved more than just the wings failing to close. Had Mr. Murphy not taken the action he did the gate would have likely ended up going through the fence further along in the 1st turn where the horsemen/horsewomen congregate to watch each race. This would have no doubt resulted in death or serious injury to some of those standing at that location. Mr. Murphy's split second decision to put the gate through the fence at a non populated location is to be commended - not ridiculed.
We had the same thing happen
We had the same thing happen here at fredericton last fall and the experienced driver just drove around ahead of the horses with the wings open. I guess we should honour him for his driving skills and common sense and didn't cause a cent of damage . HATS OFF TO YOU DRIVER. We all will appreciate you more now.