Horse Racing is a unique sport where  one does not immediately think of technology in relation to it - but as I will outline in this entry, it certainly has the potential to be a significant source of innovation in sports education and entertainment.

The internet has been one of the most significant and exciting technologies, and the horse racing industry has taken the bull by the horns with both hands, and have fully utilized the powerful potential of e-commerce.  Horse racing has taken advantage of internet technology better than almost any other industry in the world. 

In fact, the Internet technology has matured so much at this point that it’s now possible to present real-time views of actual races from all over the world over a high-speed broadband internet connection.  Transponders are placed on every horse so that multiple readings per second are available regarding horse position, and these positions are collected dynamically and displayed on the screen.

There are even technologies now available that are installing this technology for UK racing.  This radio triangulation technology is one of the most advanced and creative uses of technology to present realtime data over the internet - and the horse racing industry developed this realtime display of data over the internet long before most other industries ever caught on.

The data that is collected is not only used for entertainment purposes - this data is collected as an educational tool and can be extremely useful for punters.  This kind of collected data provides sectional times, speed bursts, and much more - including logs of historical data that could prove tremendously useful in predicting future performance of select horses.

Companies across the world now possess the skill and technology to use such realtime positional data and convert it into 3D animations controlled by the viewer of that data.  This is an advancement in tracking and display technology over the internet that is cutting edge and absolutely amazing to see in action.

Computers can also be a powerful educational tool as computerized track bias simulators.  Such simulators are used to collect 3D terrain data from tracks and then attempt to predict track bias changes as the race day goes on.  These kind of simulation systems can show ideal racing lines - and some of them attempt to predict the winner based on the track bias, however such a prediction certainly lacks many of the other factors that can determine winner.  But such a prediction can offer a tremendous insight as to the effect that track bias may have on various horses.

Of course - when it comes to horse racing, entertainment is always a big factor.  Computer based tipping systems provide a computer vs. expert segment during racing telecasts.  A great test of man vs. machine is to watch these predictions carefull to see who determins the winners most often. 

Essentially, all of this powerful technology proves that the horse racing indusry will be able to better educate and entertain the horse race community and can also use these new technologies to attract new people to the sport who otherwise might never have become involved in horse racing.