Would be neat to see this technology applied to racing
 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toHZJQrI5-Q

Watching the NFL combine the last few years - they have the ability to take any guys they want to - and run them side by side.

For instance - when they took the fastest running backs - and had them race against each other... you could see that Alabama RB Mark Ingram finished last of the bunch but beat everyone to the 10-yard split. They could even compare the commentators racing anyone.

Say a track runs five different 6fs races one day - it would be slick to see the winner of each race running against each other. Obviously - you can figure out what it would look like in your head by studying fractional times and doing math ... but still ... if this technology happens to be very cheap and simple ... tracks should make use of it.

I saw that a while back while flipping channels and stopping at airplane racing of all things. They were flying a course through pylons and such against the clock. After a run they would superimpose a previous run on the replay and you could see where each plane was the quickest and where they lost/gained time.

Not sure of the usefulness when applied to horse racing, but it would be fun to watch.

It would be very useful because it adds a visual element that fractional charts can't - and like you say - it would be a lot of fun to watch.

From a recent Crist Blog post:



In that example ... lets take Mineshaft Handicap 2nd place finisher Mission Impazible and race him with Risen Star winner Mucho Macho Man and Rachel Alexandra winner Kathmanblu.

What you would see is Mission Impaz (who didn't even set the pace in the Mineshaft) running off to about a 17 length lead after just a half mile over his two rivals.

Mucho Macho Man would start cutting into his lead - and be trailing him by about 10 lengths with 2.5 furlongs to go.

And at the wire - Mission Impaz would hold on to win by about a steadily diminishing 3 lengths over Mucho Macho Man.

Those pace numbers are very great for handicapping - but they have absolutely zero visual feel to them.

Rachel Alexandra VS Blame going 9fs last year.

They both ran the distance on the same track same day last year. RA in the Flur De Lis and Blame in the Foster.






Rachel Alexandra opens up a 12 length lead over Blame after a half mile.

She's still in front of Blame by 12 lengths after six furlong - Gomez better make his move. He's being too patient.

Rachel Alexandra's in front by 8.5 with one furlong to go - Borel isn't moving a muscle.

Blame turns it on late - but RA wins by a diminishing 3.5 lengths.

Interesting way to compare, I agree. I always felt they made a mistake not taking her to the Stephen Foster. I think RA's underrated in terms of what she could've accomplished if handled differently, but oh well. It's done. Does this technology necessarily adjust for how Blame might've been handled had she been in the race? It wouldn't really account for a change in tactics/strategy unless I'm missing something. Rather than let her run as she should've been allowed to all season, they might've held RA back even more, trying so hard to rate and save her to the point that they squashed her natural gifts even more than they did against the girls.

like this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2doCAS1Kvk

That's a little different because its two seperate races.

I was thinking more like winner of one race VS winner of another race. Or top two in one race VS top two in another race. Have to be the same day and same distance of course.

So you are saying isolate the winners (or top 2) of each race that day at the same distance. Then combine those images into one virtual race.

What if the horses were in the middle of a pack or on the rail behind some also rans in their real race. Their image is blocked.