Horse racing is deeply steeped in tradition. It's been around for hundreds of years, and while the world has evolved constantly around it, the game itself is still reassuringly similar to how it was when it was first played at the behest of kings.
In fact, there are still the occasional races that attract spades of royal guests.
So what role does modern innovation play? If you peruse a horse racing pick guide, you can find a great one here: twinspires.com/edge/racing/wagering/. You’ll be inundated with data points that are only possible through modern technology.
It's good for bettors, it's good for training teams, and it's good for venues. What does it look like in practice? Find out more about how horse racing is changing with the latest tech trends and smart tracks down below.
What Smart Tracks Actually Mean
Smart tracks are simply racetracks that have been embedded with advanced monitoring systems. These systems use sensors to take data points on horse activities and extrapolate insights from them in real time.
The word “smart” is admittedly applied loosely to a wide variety of things. A smart home, for example, might just have a few IoT devices, and a smart car would be similarly equipped.
A smart racetrack is generally held to a more specific standard. It will include, for example, surface sensors that monitor conditions like moisture, temperature, and firmness.
These systems can even include automations to adjust areas of concern. This is important because turf conditions can significantly impact the shape of a race and horse's health.
All of these data points are used not just in the moment, but over time. They help generate broader insights on long-term trends at a specific venue.
Wearables
Wearable devices are arguably the most impactful smart technology innovation in the world of horse racing. They're particularly impactful in the context of maintaining peak horse health.
Wearables are fitted on harnesses and other areas of the horse to monitor everything from their stride length to their heart rhythm. They are an extremely impactful tool in that they can identify issues very early on and potentially prevent injury.
They can also be used in the context of more regular daily insights as a way of deciding when to adjust a training regimen. Wearable sensors have already been used extensively in horse training to reduce injury.
Because the technology is so new, there's arguably a considerably more extensive range of benefits that will be possible as time progresses. This is particularly true now with the inclusion of artificial intelligence integrations that make it easier and faster to extrapolate data-driven insights.
How Smart Tracks Influence Fan Experience
It's going to depend largely on what the venue has on offer, a lot of times. Fans experience smart data-taking technology in the context of horse racing through enhanced game day insights.
These can be simple things like updated odds or more complicated insights into a wide variety of betting lines. It's impactful for fans in that it allows them to make better-informed wagers and also just engage more thoroughly with the overall experience.
Not everyone who goes to a track is there to place bets. Most fans do want to engage as deeply as they can with the race.
Data-driven insights can help towards that end.
Limitations
Sometimes we talk a little too much about data and AI, what data and AI can do, and not enough about what they're doing. The truth is that both technologies are pretty recent.
Big data was the big buzzword of the early 21st century. It might still be, had it not been for the more recent innovation of artificial intelligence.
In both cases, organizations invested heavily in the technologies and then struggled to decide what to actually do with them. We could get more extensive about the financial losses associated with both technologies, but that would bring us perhaps a little too far away from the topic of horse racing.
It's more important to say that AI and big data are impactful, important, and interesting. They're not changing the game in a way that leaves it unrecognizable.
It’s great that wearables can make racing safer for the animals. It’s wonderful that smart sensors have made groundskeeping easier than ever. And if you can use algorithms to your advantage at the betting booth, more power to you.
None of these things changes the essence of the game.
Horse racing is, at the end of the day, a simple sport. Animals run fast for a short period of time.
Tons of stuff go into preparing for the events where these displays take place. The core concepts have remained largely untouched for centuries.
That's what makes horse racing special.
