New graphics part of TAB’s long-term plans to educate punters

New graphics will help punters track their horses during a race and also be compiled into a free data reference. Photo / Supplied

The way Kiwis watch horse racing is changing and Trackside bosses hope that will ultimately provide punters with a new way of analysing the sport.

New Zealand Cup week involved the successful rollout of new, real-time tracking graphics, which show punters where their horse is during the running of the race.

The system, powered by company tripleSdata, is already common in some overseas jurisdictions and something similar was already being used by major New Zealand racetracks such as Ellerslie and Addington.

The new package will be expanded to most tracks around the country to provide uniform coverage of racing.

It shows where each horse is in every race in a graphic across the bottom of the screen on Trackside and Trackside.co.nz, along with race speed and sectionals.

The graphic clears during the closing stages of a race as fewer horses are in play and so the screen can cover the whole track as horses often spread out across it.

The system works through transponders placed in saddle cloths for thoroughbred and harness racing, with the items transported around the country in the outside broadcasting vans used by Trackside. This means every time a meeting is covered, the saddle cloths will be there.

While some punters may not need the system to keep up with where their horse is in the running, TAB head of live racing for Entain, Kyle Bettler, said it is a great resource for those new to racing punting or who may not be as used to reading races.

Bettler said the ultimate benefit of the new system will be as a punting tool and helping New Zealand racing fans catch up with data analysis around the world.

“First and foremost, it is a great new tool so racing viewers can see where their horse is,” he said.

“Some punters may not need that but plenty of people will enjoy being able to track their horse for the whole race.

“But all the data from each horse is also recorded and will become available to punters.

“Within a few months we hope to have all that data collated and available on the trackside.co.nz website so punters can get in-depth information on any horses, not only after races but more importantly when assessing their chances in upcoming races.”

Data analysis on areas such as sectionals, top speeds and total ground covered is common in overseas betting jurisdictions but the New Zealand punting marketplace is still maturing.

“We want to educate punters on how to use this data so they can be better informed,” says Bettler, who has a background at the elite levels of Australian-based professional punting.

“Next year we will be launching a new show on Trackside to help educate punters on how the data works, what to look for, how ratings systems work and how they can use all of it as a punting tool.”

The new graphics and data collection system will be rolled out on 30 tracks this summer but some of the less frequently-used venues won’t have it installed yet because they may not have the infrastructure to support it.

“But any track that races four to five times a year or more will have it for certain.

“In some cases, we will have a test run at the next meeting for a venue and once that is successful punters will see it at that track’s next meeting.”

Michael Guerin wrote his first nationally published racing articles while still in school and started writing about horse racing and the gambling industry for the Herald as a 20-year-old in 1990. He became the Herald’s Racing Editor in 1995 and covers the world’s biggest horse racing carnivals.