Trakus has to go

[cj]

Twitter

[ReplayRandall]

Originally Posted by cj

https://twitter.com/TimeformUSfigs/s...25592508084224

Ballsy......What more is there to say, the truth is what it is...

[jeebus1083]

So what happened for the straw to break the camel's back?

[cj]

Originally Posted by jeebus1083

So what happened for the straw to break the camel's back?

They are routinely getting races wrong at Santa Anita currently. Saturday and Sunday at Santa Anita were the worst I've seen even worse than Gulfstream. There is no data in the Trakus charts Saturday for three races. On Sunday, they missed five of the nine. The times posted on the screen and in the charts are really bad, and the includes the "adjusted" ones in the charts that are just hand times.

Woodbine has had Trakus on turf as the official timer for two years and there are constant problems.

The adventures at Gulfstream Park are well known by now. They screwed up the Pegasus, enough said.

Del Mar had plenty problems as well the past meet. They botched the Pacific Classic a few years ago.

Many of these horses are going to show up at the Breeders' Cup with bogus times in the PPs.

[jeebus1083]

You should partner with Jeff Platt and really press this as an industry-wide issue. Races should be timed the moment the gate opens with 1) no run-up or 2) the distance + run-up. As was mentioned on Twitter, perhaps Tag Heuer getting involved and lip chip technology. If the technology to time Olympic events to the nearest thousandth of a second with dead on balls accuracy exists, the industry should embrace it, price be damned. If racetracks refuses to upgrade their timing mechanisms due to cost or just plain stubborness (after all, many of the old timers could give a hoot! ), then the AGSC should strip graded status from that track's graded stakes. Reality is that the industry needs to work collectively to make this happen.

[jeebus1083]

Personally, I believe racetracks accept the status quo when it comes to race timing because it's the way things have always been done. That, and cost effectiveness. What incentive is there for a small track like Mountaineer to upgrade their timers when 1) they have one day of significance on the national racing scene and 2) their on-track handle is consistently less than $10k per night? (They handled $7,876 on track last night).

While there are certainly issues with timing, it has never been a truly "hot button" topic across the board, just something that the industry and old-timers view with complacency.

[Jeff P]

FYI, I just made the CHRB and Santa Anita aware of this thread.


-jp

.

[o_crunk]

In many jurisdictions in the US, as part of the race track being granted a license to operate, the race track must demonstrate that it can accurately time a race. Most states have provisions for "temporary" malfunctioning of timers with hand timers (and many states require more than one hand timing in such temporary cases).

Once again, it's not just drugs where regulators are letting the game down. Timing races is part of regulating and is required to be performed accurately. In the biggest jurisdictions in this country, it seems like the timing of races is actually breaking down to the point where systems are no longer functioning at all.

Worse, the public isn't being told what's actually happening - how missing times are being supplemented, how bad times are thrown out and replaced with official times that are actually worse...the public is in the dark.

If race tracks can't time races, I don't have much confidence that they can perform critical functions like identifying a horse for a race, police bad apples, find drug offenders, etc.

[jeebus1083]

Originally Posted by Jeff P

FYI, I just made the CHRB and Santa Anita aware of this thread.


-jp

.

Excellent, Jeff. Time to get the ball rolling and get everyone on board.

[linrom1]

It's obvious that someone likes the way things are!

[cj]

This is a link to the post that was the straw that broke the camel's back. This isn't the obvious error that is easily spotted. But it is really important. Some of these horses will run back in the BC Sprint and this is about a 3.5 length error.

http://www.paceadvantage.com/forum/s...&postcount=475

[HoofedInTheChest]

Trakus is a clown show.

I’m with CJ, i stopped playing Woodbine (for the second time) because of the timing issues.

Any track that doesn’t respect its customers can go f-themselves. Trakus/Hand-timing is not an acceptable form of race timing.

[GMB@BP]

Just another example why racing cannot attract serious new players and young players, who would bet real money when the timing of races cannot be completed in any kind of accuracy.

[jay68802]

What makes people think that this industry has ever wanted to have accurate information distributed to the public? Drf has published their "speed rating and track variant" forever now, and most people know it is garbage. For a long time, lengths back during the running of the race were guesstimates. The distances on turf are questionable. Different run up distances are not published. They can't even get gelding and lasiks information correct. Trackus was never intended for use as timing, it was a marketing gimmick so people could watch the little chicklets on the screen. The industry will never invest real money into getting accurate information to the public. They have too much invested in their reputation of being the shady, corrupt, drug filled industry that cares only for themselves.

[castaway01]

Originally Posted by jeebus1083

Personally, I believe racetracks accept the status quo when it comes to race timing because it's the way things have always been done. That, and cost effectiveness. What incentive is there for a small track like Mountaineer to upgrade their timers when 1) they have one day of significance on the national racing scene and 2) their on-track handle is consistently less than $10k per night? (They handled $7,876 on track last night).

While there are certainly issues with timing, it has never been a truly "hot button" topic across the board, just something that the industry and old-timers view with complacency.

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.