Coursetrack, the award-winning live, in-race timing information system, has been hailed by Irish racing after being rolled out at 25 Irish racecourses.

Working with Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) and Association of Irish Racecourses (AIR), and the individual Irish racecourses, the pioneering data has been broadcast on-screen and published online for all races at 25 Irish racecourses from the start of the year.

The system is operated by Racecourse Media Group’s timing partners, Coursetrack, and involves horses carrying lightweight GPS trackers, designed to fit within the saddlecloth. In-race data for all races in Ireland – including race clock, leader’s speed, leader’s time per furlong and distance to finish – is provided to networks, including RTE and Racing TV, for live broadcasts.

Paul Hensey, CEO of Association of Irish Racecourses, said:“The roll-out of Coursetrack’s system across all fixtures so far this year has been excellent – we are now providing reliable, accurate tracking data across Irish racing, which is a benefit for racing fans, punters and participants. I look forward to seeing how this data can be used to support innovation and engage fans more deeply in the sport.”

Peter Roe, General Manager at Fairyhouse Racecourse, said:“Fairyhouse was involved in the initial trials of Coursetrack in Ireland and we are very pleased that Coursetrack is now delivering new timing data for all of Fairyhouse’s Flat and jumps fixtures. The new GPS technology ensures exact measurement of our different racing lines and race distances, which supports our efforts to keep moving the sport forward.”

Chris Murtagh, Operations Director at Coursetrack, said:“We are delighted that the implementation and operation of Coursetrack has been so well received by racecourses in Ireland. Listowel, which raced on Sunday, was the 25th racecourse to successfully deploy the system, and we hope Laytown – which is staged on a beach – will complete the full set of 26 Irish racecourses in September. I’d like to thank all Irish racecourses, who have been a pleasure to work with and are now, along with their audiences, benefitting from this ultra-reliable, low-latency and easy-to-interpret data.”

The potential for the sport to harness the power of data and detailed performance can also improve welfare outcomes for racehorses, as was discussed at the inaugural HRI Equine Welfare Symposium held recently in Newbridge.

Jonathan Mullin, Director of Racing at Horse Racing Ireland (HRI), said:“A commitment to innovation was a key part of the new media rights arrangements that were agreed with AIR and HRI and our partners SIS and RMG. We are delighted that RMG has brought in Coursetrack to deliver high-quality tracking across the whole of Irish racing and we look forward to further innovation and technical developments that come from this, including on the welfare side.”

Sectional time reports for each race are published in the results section on www.racingtv.com/results, and other affiliated websites, the day after racing.

Coursetrack is currently operating on 35 British racecourses, with its data broadcast live by ITV in the UK, Virgin Media in Ireland, and Racing TV in both countries. The service has won a prestigious Sports Technology Award – “The Oscars of Sports Innovation” – for best use of data.

Other sports are using data and innovation to grow audiences and engagement, and the collection of accurate, real time tracking data is essential for horse racing as it seeks to do the same.

The tracking data supports the creation of new engaging performance metrics and insights, which helps evaluate a horse’s performance and serves as a valuable tool for analysing a race and for in-running betting.

In Britain, bookmakers, including Boylesports, Ladbrokes, Coral, BetVictor and William Hill, are utilising Coursetrack’s data to offer in-play pricing and betting on UK horse racing. There is scope for that now to be extended to Irish racing. There is more about in-play betting here.

Please visit racingtv for a Q+A on timing information, plus analyst James Willoughby’s views on its importance to the sport.