starting gate

noun

any of various types of movable barriers for lining up and giving an equal start to the entries in a horse or dog race.

Origin

1895-1900

Examples from the web for starting gate

Everyone is running out of the starting gate with their green idea without cradle to grave calculations.
The park lightly maintains the track, which also has a starting gate.
Now imagine being loaded into a starting gate alongside the best thoroughbreds in the land.
The track is groomed and watered, and has a starting gate.
Operators water and groom the trails, which also feature a starting gate.
No, you can't fill your head with that, otherwise you wouldn't get out of the starting gate.
And our partnership is bursting out of the starting gate with several new weapons to curb this deadly epidemic.
Applications filed before the appropriate starting gate opens will be dismissed.
The field was backed out of their stalls and the starting gate was moved to free the downed horse.
Because this action stumbled near the starting gate, the record is stunted and the facts before us are sparse.

British Dictionary definitions for starting gate

noun

a movable barrier so placed on the starting line of a racecourse that the raising of it releases all the contestants simultaneously

the US name for starting stalls