Bunching and turning in a race usually mean the sheep can see a reason to stop: a dark patch ahead, a person standing in their line of travel, a dead end that reads as a trap. Work on what the race looks like from a sheep's eye level before you ask the flock to use it under pressure.
Read the Race Through Sheep's Eyes
Sheep follow movement ahead of them and balk at contrast. Walk the race yourself at their height and look for shadow stripes across the floor, bright gaps under gates, sacks or dogs visible through the sides, and anything flapping. Solid or closely railed sides help because the flock cannot see distractions beyond them, while an open view ahead to other sheep encourages forward flow. Keep the exit visibly open and let the first sheep see companions or open ground beyond it; a race that appears to end at a blank gate invites the leaders to turn and meet the flock coming up behind.
Use Flocking Instinct and Flight Zones
Sheep move away from pressure and toward each other, and calm handling uses both facts gently. A few trained sheep who know the route, run first or placed just ahead, draw the rest forward far more reliably than shouting from behind. Work the edge of the group's flight zone: step in to start them moving, step back the moment they flow, so pressure eases exactly when they do what you want. Pressure from the sides keeps stragglers tucked in, but crowding the rear too hard piles sheep onto the leaders and causes the very bunching you are trying to cure.
Practise on Quiet Days
Handling day is the wrong time for a first attempt. Run small groups through the race on ordinary days, with feed waiting at the far end, and let them walk it without being caught, drenched or sorted at the end. Short, uneventful passes teach the flock that the race is a corridor, not an ambush. Between practice runs, change only one thing — remove the flapping sack, move the person, block the shaft of shadow — so you learn which distraction was actually stopping them. Increase group size gradually once the small groups flow, and keep sessions brief enough that neither sheep nor handlers lose patience.
A Routine the Whole Team Runs the Same Way
Calm races depend on everyone handling sheep the same way: same positions, same quiet pressure, same patience at the entrance. Agree who leads, who works the rear and who stays out of the sheep's sightline altogether, and write those practice jobs down rather than re-briefing from memory each time. Note which distraction you removed and how the flock responded, so the next session starts from what you learned instead of from the beginning again.
Put those practice jobs into KinsLe, where Care Teams records who handled each run and stamps the task once it is finished.