A Day at the Races

[SeaChelle]

Greetings!
Brand new member here and really excited about all the great advice that is offered here. I have only been here for a day now, but I'm going blind reading all the posts. This is a shot I took last year in Arkansas at Oaklawn. I am really looking forward to hearing any advice on how I could have improved this shot as I am back in Arkansas and will be returning to Oaklawn soon. Would it have helped with a slightly faster shutter and maybe a larger aperture? Would cropping improve it?
Thanks!

Camera: Sony DSLR-A100
Exposure: 0.002 sec (1/500)
Aperture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 210 mm
ISO Speed: 250

[ericw]

I think the only further cropping you'd want to do is to straighten it out. To me it looks like the trees and posts are leaning to the right.

I really like it tho it seems very sharp, and the colors are quite nice.

[lputman]

The colors are very good and your shot is crisp. Yes, it is a little crooked. Often my action shots are a little crooked and that is the one thing I usually have to fix.

In this photo, the tractors in the background are distracting but it seems as if they have just started the race and are coming out of the gate so I know you can't control that. If you aren't opposed to getting a different type of shot, position yourself so that you can catch them coming down the stretch after the starting gates have been moved.