This year's Royal Ascot horse racing legends Black Caviar and Frankel, and even Melbourne Cup triple winner Makybe Diva all have one unusual link in common, they have all passed through starting barriers designed and built by a local designer in Mount Barker.

The company began in the 1950s with the construction of the first set of moveable starting gates for the Murray Bridge Race Club, and has grown to supplying a variety of horse racing infrastructure to over 50 countries around the world.

For Steriline Racing managing director John Fargher, the leaps in technology and occupational health and safety requirements have taken the race start from something that used to be achieved by the simple drop of a flag or rope, to a piece of machinery that can sometimes represent millions of dollars in racing revenue on a single start.

"People will only bet if they believe that everything is fair and above board, and that all of the horses are going to get an equal break every time."

Such is the importance of the reliability and ease of use of the gates, the company recently redesigned the entrance doors after a request by the Hong Kong Jockey Club.

Entrance gates were designed to fold back to around 45 degrees, offering a funnel shape for the horse to be lead into.

It was a simple design change that was hoped to reduce any injuries that may be made to horses whilst placing them in the stalls, but more importantly, reduce the number of scratchings at the beginning of a race from horses not being able to enter the gates on time.

"If a horse is scratched at the start of a race, the betting administration has to pay back that bet to the punter, so there is an economic cost in having troubles at the starting gate."

The new design has proved beneficial to the industry.

"It's cut down the scratchings or issues at the barriers in Hong Kong by about 75 per cent."

With markets utilising the infrastructure ranging from Europe to the Middle East, the 17 locally employed staff have to customise the equipment to operate in temperatures ranging from over 40 degrees heat to under 20 degrees below freezing.

Designers also have to take into account the overall weight and manoeuvrability of the stalls, to ensure the gates are not across the track if the field makes more than one pass, and the equipment does not damage or divot the racetrack on moving.

John listed his greatest challenge to date designing a 25-bay, one piece starting barrier for the 2010 Melbourne Cup in Flemington.

"It hadn't been in very long before the Melbourne Cup, so there hadn't been a lot of testing and we were extremely nervous."

It was the 150th anniversary of the race, viewed by racing fans around the world.

"On Melbourne Cup Day, where there is several billion people watching the race, I'm more worried about the start of the race than I am the finish of the race," John said with a laugh.

The Black Caviar and Frankel connection

With comparisons being made across the world as to which would be the better horse following Black Caviar and Frankel's performances at Royal Ascot, John had found a quirky similarity.

The English superstar Frankel, to date, had only started through the South Australian built gates.

With a cheeky laugh John dismisses the suggestion that if it wasn't for Australia, Frankel may not have had such great starts.

"We'd like to think we could say that," John chuckles.

Either way, with both horses racing through the locally built gates, John's crew are happy to have even the slightest association with their amazing performances.

With horse racing continuing to expand through, with development in Africa and Eastern Europe, and the possibility of mainland betting in China, John thinks the local team will continue to play their part in racing results around the world from their industrial sheds at Mount Barker.