timing of races | Horse Racing Free Tips

More than one Thoroughbred trainer has said that “time only matters if you're in jail,” but try telling that to a horseplayer. In North America, the fractional and final times of every race listed in a horse's past performances can play an important role in a bettor's decision-making process, not to mention the performance ratings – from Beyer and Brisnet speed figures to Thorograph and Ragozin sheets – that many horseplayers use.

The method of timing races at some tracks has changed in recent years from traditional beam systems that are tripped when the first horse passes designated poles to a GPS system based on transponders placed on a horse's saddle towel. The transition has not been seamless, and some tracks are now using a hybrid of both systems to compile accurate race times and running positions. Even that system can produce inaccurate times, as evidenced by several races on the two-day Breeders' Cup world championships at Del Mar on Nov. 5-6.

In this week's edition of the Friday Show, Equibase president Sal Sinatra joins publisher Ray Paulick and news editor Chelsea Hackbarth to talk about the race-timing challenges he inherited when he joined the company earlier this year and how he hopes timing problems will be resolved. Sinatra, a longtime racing executive who worked in the statistical department of Daily Racing Form when he was just getting started in the business, understands the importance of accurate data, including times, in a horse's past performances.

Paulick and Hackbarth review undefeated Woodbine Star of the Week Lady Speightspeare's victory in the G2 Bessarabian Stakes under Emma-Jayne WIlson. Owned and bred by Charles Fipke (who also owned and bred Lady Speightspeare's multiple graded stakes-winning dam), the 3-year-old Speightstown filly is trained by Hall of Famer Roger Attfield.

Watch this week's Friday Show, presented by Woodbine, below:

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Equibase and Keeneland on Wednesday issued a statement concerning the failure of the timing system to correctly time the fractional and final clockings for Saturday's $6-million, Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Classic won in what officials say was a track record time by Authentic. The North American Thoroughbred industry's official data base and the host track for the Nov. 6-7 Breeders' Cup, respectively, also issued a new final time and fractional times for the mile and a quarter race.

The statement follows: “Prior to the running of the Longines Breeders' Cup Classic (Gr. 1) on November 7, 2020, at Keeneland, a photo eye at the start of the race was inadvertently tripped, which resulted in an error when attempting to operate the timing system manually causing inaccurate timing for all fractions and the final time of the race. A final time of 1:59.19 was initially provided by Equibase using the available video replay.

“After subsequent and more detailed review and timing of the race from multiple sources and camera angles, Keeneland and Equibase have determined the fractional times for the Classic (:23.20, :46.84, 1:10.32, 1:34.64) and confirmed a final time of 1:59.60. The Classic chart has been updated and the running of Authentic in the Longines Breeders' Cup Classic is now the official track record for the 1 1/4-mile distance at Keeneland.”

With traditional timing beam systems, a track's clocker initiates the timing system when the gates open. The timing of the race begins when the leading horse trips the electronic beam at the appropriate pole on the racetrack – in this instance three-sixteenths of a mile from the finish line on the 1 1/16-mile oval. Subsequent fractional times are recorded when the leading horse trips the beams at poles around the track.

The statement from Keeneland and Equibase does not explain why an initial fraction of :17.19 for the opening quarter mile was initially posted on the track television feed. If the teletimer beam after the start of the race was tripped early, as suggested, the initial quarter-mile fraction would have been slower than normal, not faster. In addition, Keeneland and Equibase failed to explain why there was no hand-timing of such an important race in the event of a timing failure, something that is standard operating procedure at some tracks.

The previous record for the seldom-run 1 1/4-mile distance at Keeneland was 2:00.07, established by American Pharoah in the 2015 Breeders' Cup Classic. The fastest Breeders' Cup Classic ever run was by Ghostzapper when he covered the distance at Lone Star Park in Texas in 1:59.02 in 2004.

The Keeneland dirt track played exceedingly fast during the two-day Breeders' Cup meet, with new records established for six furlongs (1:07.89) by Nashville in the Perryville Stakes; 6 1/2 furlongs (1:14.99) by Highly Motivated in the Nyquist Stakes; seven furlongs (1:20.20) by Gamine in the G1 Filly & Mare Sprint; one mile (1:33.85) by Knicks Go in the G1 Dirt Mile; and 1 1/4 miles (1:59.60) by Authentic in the Classic. One turf course record was broken for 1 3/16 miles (1:52.72) by Aurdarya in the Filly & Mare Turf.

Trakus, a system used by Keeneland and a number of other racetracks in North American to track the location of horses throughout each race, published the following times on the 2020 Classic: :23.20, :47.06, 1:10.84, 1:35.00 and 1:59.82.

The post Breeders’ Cup Classic Timing Snafu Explained (Sort Of), With Time Adjusted appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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