VINCENT
29-09-2002, 23:31
STRIDE to add another dimension to racing experience
29 September 2002
The Hong Kong Jockey Club is poised to further deliver on its commitment to provide its customers with world-class racing and betting entertainment with the introduction of the Sectional Timing for Racing Information and Dynamic Entertainment (STRIDE) system.
An integrated horse tracking and multi-media presentation system, STRIDE will change the way customers assess horse form and trackwork. It will also offer a range of graphic applications that will be equally useful to racing experts and newcomers to the sport. No other timing device in operation elsewhere will provide as detailed and precise racetrack and training track information on any horse as STRIDE.
STRIDE delivers individual sectional times for each and every horse in every race. The ability to determine within 1/100th of a second the position of each and every runner in a race will emerge as a powerful form analysis tool. STRIDE will enable racing fans to determine a host of other factors that previously defied calculation such as a horse acceleration or deceleration during a race, the distance travelled... the applications are limitless and the Jockey Club is exploring how best to present it to its customers. The main aim is to present the fans with more accurate information without complicating matters.
In any case, trackwork analysis will also be revolutionised by STRIDE with accurate sectional times available on the workouts of every horse. Only fast work will be recorded by STRIDE, however, with 30sec/200m the minimum speed threshold.
The multimedia uses for STRIDE are just as exciting as it facilitate a live Virtual Reality feed along with the usual race pictures on the Diamond Vision screen. Each horse's saddlecloth number will denote its racing position on a virtual track in real time via aerial, blimp-style images and regular side-on VR views. And in the current absence of quality live feeds on the Internet, these VR feeds could give customers a valuable online dimension to race interpretation.
STRIDE works like this: tracking is achieved by a Location Processing Server (LPS) that is connected to a series of Radio Frequency (RF) transceivers placed around both racecourses. A total of 34 transceivers are to be placed around Sha Tin with 14 at Happy Valley and they will "look for" both a battery-powered transponder weighing 40 grams and placed in each jockey's cap as well as an individual tag that is placed in the horse's saddlecloth. The transponders and tags will automatically match horse and jockey combinations as they step onto the track as though passing through a motorway 'autotoll.'
Jockeys and trainers have been briefed on the system and the Club continues to liaise with them on equipment design. The next step is to fully test the system in trackwork and in races at Sha Tin in January 2003 before the official Sha Tin launch that is scheduled to occur during the second quarter of 2003. The system will be installed at Happy Valley during the 2003 off-season and, allowing for the necessary testing procedures, the target is to have both tracks fully operational by the end of 2003.
29 September 2002
The Hong Kong Jockey Club is poised to further deliver on its commitment to provide its customers with world-class racing and betting entertainment with the introduction of the Sectional Timing for Racing Information and Dynamic Entertainment (STRIDE) system.
An integrated horse tracking and multi-media presentation system, STRIDE will change the way customers assess horse form and trackwork. It will also offer a range of graphic applications that will be equally useful to racing experts and newcomers to the sport. No other timing device in operation elsewhere will provide as detailed and precise racetrack and training track information on any horse as STRIDE.
STRIDE delivers individual sectional times for each and every horse in every race. The ability to determine within 1/100th of a second the position of each and every runner in a race will emerge as a powerful form analysis tool. STRIDE will enable racing fans to determine a host of other factors that previously defied calculation such as a horse acceleration or deceleration during a race, the distance travelled... the applications are limitless and the Jockey Club is exploring how best to present it to its customers. The main aim is to present the fans with more accurate information without complicating matters.
In any case, trackwork analysis will also be revolutionised by STRIDE with accurate sectional times available on the workouts of every horse. Only fast work will be recorded by STRIDE, however, with 30sec/200m the minimum speed threshold.
The multimedia uses for STRIDE are just as exciting as it facilitate a live Virtual Reality feed along with the usual race pictures on the Diamond Vision screen. Each horse's saddlecloth number will denote its racing position on a virtual track in real time via aerial, blimp-style images and regular side-on VR views. And in the current absence of quality live feeds on the Internet, these VR feeds could give customers a valuable online dimension to race interpretation.
STRIDE works like this: tracking is achieved by a Location Processing Server (LPS) that is connected to a series of Radio Frequency (RF) transceivers placed around both racecourses. A total of 34 transceivers are to be placed around Sha Tin with 14 at Happy Valley and they will "look for" both a battery-powered transponder weighing 40 grams and placed in each jockey's cap as well as an individual tag that is placed in the horse's saddlecloth. The transponders and tags will automatically match horse and jockey combinations as they step onto the track as though passing through a motorway 'autotoll.'
Jockeys and trainers have been briefed on the system and the Club continues to liaise with them on equipment design. The next step is to fully test the system in trackwork and in races at Sha Tin in January 2003 before the official Sha Tin launch that is scheduled to occur during the second quarter of 2003. The system will be installed at Happy Valley during the 2003 off-season and, allowing for the necessary testing procedures, the target is to have both tracks fully operational by the end of 2003.