Most people think of horse racing as an age-old sport carefully tied to traditions, where the biggest tech is the bridle and the jockey’s helmet. But they are wrong.
Horse racing is one of the most technologically advanced sports, and just because we don’t see technology in a live race, it doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist. One of the most recent innovations in the industry comes with GPS trackers and RFID chips, which focus on geolocation.
This is a revolutionary technology that has various impacts on the sport. First of all, we are talking about technology that scrapes a lot of useful data that can be analyzed by horse racing trainers. This makes the entire process safer for the horse and more calculated by the trainer and racehorse owner.
On the other hand, this technology improves the fan’s experience quite a lot. How? Well, first of all, geolocation allows targeted marketing. Then we have the data collected by the devices attached to racehorses, which can be analyzed by fans to make better betting decisions. Lastly, seeing the real-time speed, stride length, and time of a horse makes each race even more exciting.
From Traditional Spectating to High-Tech Tracking
Yes, horse racing back in the day was simple. You watched the horses, placed your bet, and hoped for the best. Even trainers relied on their gut feeling with no data whatsoever. But Geolocation tech changed things. GPS trackers and RFID chips are now placed on horses’ saddlecloths or on wearable vests, silently sending streams of data about every stride, burst of speed, and horse’s turn.
Some of these devices can be as small as a grain of rice, and still give fans, trainers, and jockeys incredibly detailed insights. So, horse racing turned from a sport where it was knowing who’s in the lead, to a sport where people can understand how the horse got into the lead and predict what might happen next.
Making the Race More Fun For the Viewers
The question is: How are these devices improving our experience with the sport? Well, this technology impacts the horse racing industry in many different ways. First, we have betting apps and live streams, which now include real-time tracking, so you can watch the race with an overlay of each horse’s speed, distance covered, and position on the track. I don’t know about you, but this sounds much better than listening to the radio host explain which horse is first.
This also allowed handicappers to make better and more calculated bets. After all, they have all the data in the world that will help them predict a future winner of the race. Maybe it is time we test how this data is used in the upcoming Breeders’ Cup races.
You can get all the data you need from each participant in the Breeders’ Cup and make up your mind on which horse to bet. But just because the data is available, it doesn’t mean that everyone can read it properly.
If you plan on placing a bet on the Breeders’ Cup, make sure you check out the TwinSpires guides and tips here: https://www.twinspires.com/breeders-cup/betting/
But let’s get back to geolocation. Getting a higher success rate in betting is definitely the best boost to user experience you can get. But geolocation also allows interactive features like “following” a horse during a race, giving you alerts when the horse is ahead or in a race.
Helping Horses and Jockeys Perform Better
Although there are many benefits that fans get from geolocation technology, we also have to talk about helping horses, jockeys, and trainers. Trainers finally have a tool that allows them to monitor a horse’s health and performance in real time. These devices not only collect speed and distance, but also heart rate, stride length, and even body temperature in real-time.
If a horse is showing early signs of fatigue or stress, trainers can stop the training immediately, which also prevents injuries.
Jockeys benefit too. Real-time feedback can help them sharpen their strategies and fine-tune pacing. It can also help them understand track conditions better.
VR, AR, and the Ultimate Fan Experience
Can we do more? Of course. There is always room for improvement. The use cases of this technology are limitless, and we still haven’t explored them all.
In the future, we see geolocation being combined with augmented reality (AR) or virtual reality (VR). Can you imagine strapping your Apple Vision Pro, watching a race on a big screen, with all the data on the side?
It is a totally different experience and something that we would all want.
Honestly, who would have thought that one piece of technology, mainly focused on GPS location, could impact the world of horse racing in so many ways? It makes it more entertaining for fans, more predictable for bettors, safer for horses, and more understandable by trainers and jockeys.