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The racing secretary writes the conditions of the race, and in the conditions the distance the race is to be run is specified. In the case of the 7.5f turf races at Gulfstream the term "about" is used, or not used. The racing secretary does not know when he or she writes the conditions of a turf race, what the configuration of the turf course is going to be. Wear and tear on the course is going to vary depending on weather. The track maintenance crew is constantly changing where the rails are to prevent over use and for the safety of the horses and jockeys that are running on it. But on the day the race is run, that crew has a plan, with the rails in place, and so the distance and run-up of the race can be measured. So when the racing secretary writes "about" in the conditions it really does not matter. What matters is on the day the race is run, the real distance and run-up can be reported, but is not.
Equibase is the "official" data provider for horse racing. Equibase is responsible for the information provided to the public, and it's accuracy. The reporting or in this case miss-reporting of the distance, and run-up's of the races is entirely their problem. If Equibase needs to have one more person at Gulfstream to be able to collect the correct data, that is what needs to be done. It does not matter how they collect the information. what matters is that they collect accurate information and report it. Does it matter that the original conditions were wrote for 7.5f and because of the track set up today, the distance is really a mile? No, what matters is that the run-up and distance changes are reported to the public before the race is run.
Trackus is another part of this, they provide the "official" times for the races. This is probably the simplest part of the problem. As official timer your job is to accurately time the race. That's it, time the race. We have been timing races and other things for hundreds of years now. We have the technology to do this. Yes, the different lay outs of the turf course's can cause minor problems, but once the real lay out has been learned, you have to do your part also.
So, in the end, Equibase and Trackus, need to get together and figure out a way, to solve this problem. Gulfstream Park should not think that because they only write the conditions that they are not part of this. Because the way these two companies are reporting the information that they collect, it is perceived that your product is not to be trusted.
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