How long is too long?

I have several questions about what I saw at Ellerslie racecourse on Saturday. Here are the facts, I witnessed all of this in person through slightly intoxicated eyes from the top level of the Ellerslie stand on Saturday. Before Race 5, the Just Juice Bonecrusher Stakes, as the 3YO's were getting loaded into the barriers something happened, it was something I cannot remember seeing happen in the past, but it must be a reasonably frequent occurrence because a spare Bridle was available. The occurrence I refer to; it appeared that the bridle on number 11 Vuela (I am pretty sure it was Vuela) broke (or something happened with it to require a change, I could not hear the commentary at the time), the barrier attendants did a great job of steadying the Filly and getting a rope over her head, fortunately there was another bridle handy and they were able to get this on. As this happened all other horses had been loaded into the barrier stalls and were standing, waiting, except for number 10 Artistic who was walking around calmly; at this point I said to a friend "I would feel very comfortable if I was on number 10 about now.". There was a sizable length delay, the horse seemed reasonably calm throughout, as did all of the horses standing in the barriers, then the race started and Artistic ran home from last for victory, a stand out performance on a day where there certainly seemed to be an edge to those prepared to lead or race on the speed, Vuela meanwhile finished last.

My questions, how much benefit was it for Artistic to be the last into the barrier and not have to stand still in a stall for what seemed like at least 5 minutes? How much did it hinder the chances of other horses to be in a stall for that time? Now the bigger question, should Vuela have been scratched? Knowing that she went on to finish last it might seem obvious, but of course no one knew that at the time. I have seen horses scratched because they refuse to enter the barriers and are causing delay, of course that could also be to prevent injury and unnecessary stress to the horse, in this case the Filly seemed to be calm and was well controlled by the staff present. In lieu of scratching the horse should the other horses have been released from the barriers and reloaded? yes this would have caused further delay, but would it have improved their chances? Was the outcome of this race effected by the delay and the location of the horses at the time?

What can we take away from this race? I guess it depends on how you feel about the questions asked above, Artistic certainly looked impressive, did the benefit of walking around and not cooling down in the barrier improve her chances? I cannot help but feel it did, I am not saying Vuela should have been scratched, but given the circumstances I am not going to take too much out of this race when I make my selections for any of the upcoming 3YO races.

I have been trying to get a feeling for how I feel about any of the 3YO's I saw on Saturday and where they rank, so will come back later in the week with my New Zealand Three Year Old Power Rankings.

In regard to the rest of the day at Ellerslie, I thought it was fantastic, Whips and Spurs once again lived up to expectations, the racing was entertaining, and to finish the day with an All Blacks and Warriors victories was a nice cherry on top.