IE 11 Not Supported

For optimal browsing, we recommend Chrome, Firefox or Safari browsers.

What classic sport is turning to tech to help improve odds?

Answer: horseracing

Horseracing is an industry in which many have clung tightly to tradition and find the use of tech suspicious. In recent years, however, more and more trainers and breeders have begun to use tech and data analysis to improve their odds of finding a winning horse.

Traditionally, racehorse breeders and trainers rely on the pedigrees and training methods handed down through the centuries to guess what a horse is capable of. But they are only guessing at what speed and distance genes a horse has based on what they know of its ancestry. An Equinome genetic test can determine if a horse has a speed gene, along with what distances and conditions it would be best able to run.

One company, EQB near Philadelphia, uses a combination of databases and analytics and technology, such as high-speed cameras to analyze gait, to help the top 10 stables in the U.S. breed and train their racehorses. And in Australia, a former jockey teamed up with a trainer to develop a device called the E-Trakka, which measures a horse’s fitness and speed using a heart monitor and GPS. This tech allows trainers to conduct safe and effective workouts with a racehorse, and also to determine the speeds and distances it is best at running.

 

 

Kate is a senior copy editor in Northern California. She holds a bachelor's degree in English with a minor in professional writing from the University of California, Davis.