Chaotic scenes involving the mobile barrier at Addington on Sunday have been labelled a freak occurrence by harness racing officials.
It took three attempts and abandoning using the mobile vehicle to get the sixth race on the Marlborough Harness Racing Club's meeting on a rain-sodden Addington track under way.
In two false starts, the mobile vehicle was unable to speed away from the field. Instead, it slid sideways as the mobile arms were folded with horses having to duck around it.
The race was started on the third attempt when the horses moved up in a line without the mobile vehicle.
The chaotic scenes were put down as a one-off because, unusually, the track did not handle a large amount of rain, Racing Integrity Unit general manager Mike Godber and New Zealand Harness Racing Trainers and Drivers Association Canterbury Branch Committee chairman Ken Barron said.
''There had been rain earlier in the day but there was none in the lead-up to race 6,'' Godber said.
"Addington usually copes well with rain and recovers quickly.
"On Sunday however, the track deteriorated after the rain. This is unusual and couldn't have been expected.
''I was CEO at Addington from 1989 to 2008 and don't recall anything like that ever happening.''
Barron called the mobile's loss of traction ''a once or twice a year incident.''
''It is something that you don't want to see happen but it is not something you would be ultra-worried about.''
''We have had it happen before. It is something that's happened before that is so minor it doesn't happen very often.''
The Racing Integrity Unit was unlikely to change protocols for when the mobile has traction issues - the vehicle is tested without the field before another start is attempted.
Sunday's test went smoothly before the vehicle again lost traction with the field behind it.
''Once there was the first sideways slide by the mobile, a trial was held without the horses. It worked fine so there was a second attempt at a start with the mobile,'' Barron said.
Drivers in the race did not raise concerns with the starter Peter Lamb after the first false start, nor did they with stewards after the race, Godber said.
Off the track, the incident sent social media into a spin with onlookers labelling the false starts dangerous. However, no drivers in the race passed any concerns on to steward after the race, he said.
''The starter did advise the drivers to exercise caution prior to the second attempt. After the race no drivers raised any issues with the stewards.''
