Loose horse drawing off

if the beam was tripped early (in the case of Spectacular Bid), wouldnt the fractions be much faster than it was? At least one of them.

[Indian Charlie]

Originally Posted by helicopter11

if the beam was tripped early (in the case of Spectacular Bid), wouldnt the fractions be much faster than it was? At least one of them.

The beam to start the timer was tripped early, not the beam, if there is one, that marks the time for the first fraction.

In other words, if you start the timer 10 minutes before the race starts, the time is going to be much slower.

[Calzone Lord]

Originally Posted by helicopter11

if the beam was tripped early (in the case of Spectacular Bid), wouldnt the fractions be much faster than it was? At least one of them.

Secretariat's Preakness, not Spectacular Bid's.

No, the fractions and subsequent times would all be slower.

Go for a run. Hit your stop watch two seconds before you cross your starting point -- and your time will be 2 seconds slow.

That makes sense. I figured that each quarter mile marker has a beam that determines each fractional time. I figured that before the horses crossed the 1/4 mile pole, for example, it was set-off before they crossed it.

[Calzone Lord]

Originally Posted by helicopter11

That makes sense. I figured that each quarter mile marker has a beam that determines each fractional time. I figured that before the horses crossed the 1/4 mile pole, for example, it was set-off before they crossed it.

The beams just determine the actual race time when they cross each point.

The photo finish guy also handles the timing of races here.

The timing system is setup here so that the beams can't be tripped until 20.00 seconds have passed since the last quarter mile.

They have a spider problem on the backstretch -- and on a couple of occasions this meet -- a spider has crawled on the beam and tripped it way early. In those instances, the times on the TV will be whacky and they will hand-time the race and use the hand-time.

Tracks should take the timing of races very seriously. If they have spiders and bees anywhere near the poles where the timing beams are setup -- they need to get rid of them. Tracks like Gulfstream and Tampa have a big bird problem. Outriders and starters are often focused on what they're doing and can be so oblivious that they trip the timer.

The problem is almost never with the equipment.

[gamblin4ever]

In Japan when training they use bar codes in the saddlecloths to get times on each horse. Could they use something like that to get acurate times for races so a spider couldn't trip the timer beam?