Trakus has to go

[GMB@BP]

Originally Posted by cj

Ah, I see now, thanks. I'm not going to feel bad if it isn't getting posted. There are big problems with it. Most days have been missing large numbers of races. It isn't my fault.

I think what it says is SA probably now sees the issue and is double checking all the times so they dont get embarrassed again with a "nothing to see here" when there clearly was something to see.

[woodbinepmi]

The 3rd, 5th and 7th are missing from toady's races at Santa Anita on Trakus' website. the 10th is missing from Woodbine also.

[JustRalph]

I had such high hopes for Trakus when it came out

[classhandicapper]

Originally Posted by thaskalos

I didn't say "nefarious"...I said INCOMPETENT. An industry that can't manage to properly time its races is INCOMPETENT. And if they can't handle a rudimentary task such as that...how can they be entrusted to handle something complex...like the drug issue that plagues the sport?

Like I said, IMO it's mostly a matter of money not competence.

If you went to a track executive and gave him clear evidence of timing errors, he'd understand it and want to fix it. Then he'd look at his budget and the long list of other things he absolutely needs to do and the money would run out before he got to a new timing system.

It's the same thing with drug testing.

I'm sure some tracks know they could do a better job, but they don't have the money for Olympic caliber testing.

The economics of the industry are terrible as currently constructed but imo things are unlikely to change unless politicians are removed from the equation. But that isn't happening either.

[classhandicapper]

Originally Posted by steveb

so your little bloke might have the accurate times that average joe doesn't have, but it's not average joe that he needs to overcome.

I'm still not buying it.

Sheets, Ragozin, and Beyer figures dominate the betting in the US. If there is a group out there that has accurate times for all US races, then they have an edge in the US. But so would I if I had them because I don't think any of those major US services is timing every race every day.

[woodbinepmi]

Just a recap from this weekend.
Santa Anita
Saturday's races: The 1st, 2nd, 4th, 6th and 9th races are missing.
Sunday: Only the 3rd.

Woodbine
Sunday's races: The 9th (E.P. Taylor), 10th (Canadian International) and the 12th are missing.

Keep up the good work Trakus!

[ronsmac]

Originally Posted by woodbinepmi

Just a recap from this weekend.
Santa Anita
Saturday's races: The 1st, 2nd, 4th, 6th and 9th races are missing.
Sunday: Only the 3rd.

Woodbine
Sunday's races: The 9th (E.P. Taylor), 10th (Canadian International) and the 12th are missing.

Keep up the good work Trakus!

You give excellent Hong Kong recaps, now you're keeping us up to date on Trakus errors from Santa Anita and Woodbine. No , you keep up the good work.

[rispa]

Nov. 15 - Race 8 at Aqu.

Race 8 is missing, but Race 7 and Race 9 are available. Will they make the missing race available at later time?

Thanks.

[Parkview_Pirate]

Originally Posted by JustRalph

I had such high hopes for Trakus when it came out

Me too. The ground traveled calculations were promising for those who employ trip handicapping.

Which begs the question. If the timing is error prone, and the chicklet display whacky at times, can we conclude the other Trakus data is also suspect?

I imagine that the ground traveled calculations, which are displayed post race at some tracks (and of course in their charts), would be used by 'cappers trying to obtain a more quantitative method of trip handicapping.

[classhandicapper]

Originally Posted by Parkview_Pirate

Me too. The ground traveled calculations were promising for those who employ trip handicapping.

Which begs the question. If the timing is error prone, and the chicklet display whacky at times, can we conclude the other Trakus data is also suspect?

I imagine that the ground traveled calculations, which are displayed post race at some tracks (and of course in their charts), would be used by 'cappers trying to obtain a more quantitative method of trip handicapping.

I use Trakus for trips all the time.

There are rare occasions when the ground loss is wrong and I've found some inconsistencies from track to track, but overall it retains a lot of usefulness.

When I am watching replays there are times when certain horses are off the screen or the camera angle makes it impossible to tell how wide the horse was (even using a head on replay). The Trakus data can help you make a pretty solid estimate by looking at the changing delta from call to call.

It's also useful for bias.

If you do a quick scan of all the races on a day one after the other, you can sometimes quickly pick out the days where inside or outside horses were dominating before you even start watching replays. Doing that regularly also gives you a good feel for how some tracks tend to play differently than others.

[davew]

Are those little chicklets at the bottom of the screen from TRAKUS? it seems every race has at least one that drops out or falls back and then quickly recovers even though the horse has stayed the same place relative to the other horses. How could you rely on that for times? A few horses must get exception internal fractions in their charts.

[lamboguy]

this all comes down to if you can't trust the timer, how can you trust the time?

[Parkview_Pirate]

Originally Posted by davew

Are those little chicklets at the bottom of the screen from TRAKUS? it seems every race has at least one that drops out or falls back and then quickly recovers even though the horse has stayed the same place relative to the other horses. How could you rely on that for times? A few horses must get exception internal fractions in their charts.

Yes, the chicklets at the bottom of the screen are from the TRAKUS transmitters. However, sending data for display (or whatever the translation is) is of course done for the entire race, where as the TRACKUS reports for fractions are at the traditional calls, so fractions shouldn't be too much of an issue. And I believe part of the display problem is adjusting to make all the chicklets readable, which introduces some offset. Based on lamboguy's comment, it sounds as if there may be some error, but the data is still useful and consistent. Unlike time, it's more difficult to validate distance traveled.

Sad, though. A technology that apparently is not ready for prime time.

[Franco Santiago]

Originally Posted by castaway01

Trakus ISN'T the way it's always been done. It's probably one of the newest forms of technology used in racing. The problem isn't that it's the status quo but that it sucks.

I was watching some bob-sledding or something like that on TV and saw that they time the runners in thousandths of a second. Winners and losers were sometimes two one-thousandths of a second apart.

Maybe it's not possible because of horse's noses...I don't know.

There's another thread complaining about BC results...could it because BC prep races were incorrectly timed?

[dilanesp]

Originally Posted by Parkview_Pirate

Yes, the chicklets at the bottom of the screen are from the TRAKUS transmitters. However, sending data for display (or whatever the translation is) is of course done for the entire race, where as the TRACKUS reports for fractions are at the traditional calls, so fractions shouldn't be too much of an issue. And I believe part of the display problem is adjusting to make all the chicklets readable, which introduces some offset. Based on lamboguy's comment, it sounds as if there may be some error, but the data is still useful and consistent. Unlike time, it's more difficult to validate distance traveled.

Sad, though. A technology that apparently is not ready for prime time.

Yeah. Presenting real time information about the horses' position as they move around the track is a much more complicated technical challenge than timing the horses at a fixed point on the track.