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Mirror mirror
Mirror Mirror. Sometimes we would get an irate trainer or owner storm the stewards office demanding to see a close photo exclaiming that they had been cheated out of placing ONLY to be proven wrong when the raw scan was brought up. We used to put the vertical placement line over the place horse to show that the nose of the winner was on the OTHER side of that line. NEVER once was the photo found to be inaccurate.
Knowing the set up of the camera, I could, at times, understand why. At Woodbine, the middle of the MIRROR (the actual finish line) is about 8 inches PAST the winning post. IF one assumes the post is the line, eyeball observations would be easily perceived as off.
Most of the mirrors around the country are right in the middle of the finishing post. Good old Oaklawn is a great example where both finish lines are set up that same way. I have only been observing the mirror placement for a short time now and only found Turf Paradise as having a mirror in FRONT of the finishing post by a margin of only a few inches.
One of the other reasons for not getting accuracy is when the calibration of the camera's perpendicular alignment is off either east and west, or if the camera is rotated right of left along its long axis facing the track. We used to be required to re-calibrate daily and check focus once a week. There is an internal program where a continuous scan runs and one aligns the camera with an equal distance from two targets set up near the finish line (they are usually orange so they stand out).
Se how your favorite tracks' mirror is aligned.
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"If this world is all about winners, what's for the losers?" Jr. Bonner: "Well somebody's got to hold the horses Ace."
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