All the Way Home
When I was a child my grandmother used to play 'this little piggy'.
If you've ever wondered how a woman's mind works, here's a wee bit of an insight...
These are not pigs because I couldn't find a picture of pigs. This picture is a picture of horses lined up in the starting gate.
If you remember the 'this little piggy' rhyme it goes 'This little piggy went to market (and you wiggle the baby's fat big toe), this little piggy stayed home (and you wiggle the baby's next toe) this little piggy had roast beef (and that's the third toe) and this little piggy had none (fourth toe) and last but not least was and this little piggy went wee wee wee all the way home'.
So, even though these are not pigs, they are horses, they are in the starting gate and once that gate opens they will all be on their way home.
It is my understanding that the coveted post position is the inside position because it's the shorter run. It can also be a drawback if the horse running at the inside gets boxed in and by that can't get ahead of the rest.
In recent history, I read of a race where that happened and it was called as a fowl race. I don't know what happened as a result, but in the past any jockey that allowed his horse to get boxed in like that was not looked on favorably, but they didn't call the race for it. It was deemed the jockey's fault.
It may have been a movie, or it may have been a real life scenario, but I've seen situations where in order to get out of the box the jockey pulled his horse back enough to get out of the back of the box.
That usually isn't a good solution because then the horse has to come from the back of the pack, go to the outside, and then on the outside of the pack of horses come from behind and pass everything again.
Very few horses have the speed and stamina to overcome and win under that situation. The prize doesn't always go to the best contestant. And as it says in Ecclesiastes:
"I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all. For man also knoweth not his time: as the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare; so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly upon them." (Ecclesiastes 9:11-12 KJV)
