Sectional timing and displayed running order technology is now in place at both Greyville and Scottsville and will be tested on a non-raceday at the former racecourse next Thursday.

The entire Greyville turf and polytrack and Scottsville Inside and Outside tracks are plotted and the big screens and TV screens will thus have a live display during the race which will depict the exact running order and positioning of the horses in relation to each. This is achieved through coloured and numbered dots, as is seen in Singapore racing coverage, which is regularly broadcast on Tellytrack on Fridays and Sundays.

The sectional timing technology will be able to provide data within any distance range on the track. However, Gold Circle plan to provide punters with accurate 400m to finish time data as well as quarter sections of each race. The maximum speed each horse achieved and the total distance it covered in the race will also be provided. Due to the latter statistic being available, the average speed of a horse that finished second, for example, could be higher than the winner’s.

The data will be available on a recently launched website called www.gallop.co.za. At present this website provides a lot of useful entries, racecard, betting, form and results information as well as stats on horses, jockeys and trainers and also barrier draw stats etc in an easy to navigate format.

There has also been a meeting to discuss incorporating the sectional timing information into some of the popular formguide publications.

The sectional timing and running order technology is actually up and running already, but Thursday’s tests will be necessary in order to make adjustments to the software in order to ensure everything is running a hundred percent smoothly and also to ensure the running order display is being correctly overlaid and sized on to the screen which is transmitted via the on course Outside Broadcast van.

Also coming soon is a new App (Tabgold Information Application) which will provide the punter with plenty of live race day information. This App is currently available for download in beta version (meaning it is still in the testing phase) from the www.goldcircle.co.za website and is also available on Android. Feedback from users is welcomed.

A new and improved www.tabgold.co.za website is also in the testing phase and will be launched soon.

Meanwhile, Gold Circle’s “SA Racing” App continues to increase in popularity. This App has it all from a live racing Fan Wall, to latest news, previews, podcasts, betting information, videos, photos, events, calendar and it also incorporates the www.gallop.co.za website.

 By David Thiselton