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The way Kiwis watch horse racing is changing and Trackside bosses hope that ultimately provides punters with a new way of analysing the sport.

New Zealand Cup week saw a successful roll out of the new real time tracking graphics which show punters where their horse is during the running of the race.

The system powered by company tripleSdata is already common in some overseas jurisdictions and something similar was already being used by major New Zealand racetracks like Ellerslie and Addington.

But the new package will be expanded to most tracks around the country to provide uniform coverage of racing.

It shows where each horse is in every race in a graphic across the bottom of the screen on Trackside and Trackside.co.nz, along with race speed and sectionals.

The graphic clears during the closing stages of a race as less horses are in play and to provide a clean screen to cover the whole track as horses often spread across it.

The system works through transponders placed in saddleclothes for both thoroughbred and harness racing, which are transported around the country in the Outside Broadcasting Vans used by Trackside, so every time a meeting is covered, the saddleclothes will be there.

While some punters who watch a lot of racing may not need the system to keep up with where their horse is in the running, TAB Head Of Live Racing for Entain, Kyle Bettler, says it is a great resource for those new to racing punting or who may not be as used to reading races.

But Bettler says the ultimate benefit of the new system will be as a punting tool and helping New Zealand racing fans catch up with data analysis around the world.

“First and foremost it is a great new tool so racing viewers can see where their horse is,” says Bettler.

“Some punters may not need that but plenty of people will enjoy being able to track their horse for the whole race.

“But all the data from each horse is also recorded and will become available to punters.

“Within a few months we hope to have all that data collated and available on the trackside.co.nz website so punters can get in-depth information on any horses not only after races but more importantly when assessing their chances in upcoming races.”

Data analysis on things like sectionals, top speeds and even total ground covered is common in overseas betting jurisdictions but the New Zealand punting marketplace is still maturing, not only in terms of analysis, but understanding how markets work.

“We want to educate punters on how to use this data so they can be better informed,” says Bettler, who has a background at the elite levels of Australian-based professional punting.

“Next year we will be launching a new show on Trackside to help educate punters on how the data works, what to look for, how ratings systems work and how they can use all of it as a punting tool.”

The new graphics and data collection system will be rolled out on 30 tracks this summer but some of the less frequently-used venues won’t have it installed yet because they may not have the infrastructure to support it.

“But any track that races 4-5 times a year or more will have it for certain.

“In some cases we will have a test run at the next meeting for a venue and once that is successful punters will see it at that track’s next meeting after that.

Michael Guerin wrote his first nationally published racing articles while still in school and started writing about horse racing and the gambling industry for the Herald as a 20-year-old in 1990. He became the ����������’s Racing Editor in 1995 and covers the world’s biggest horse racing carnivals.