BHA partners with Cheltenham to debut jump racing technology

This week’s Cheltenham Festival has seen the British Horseracing Authority (BHA), collaborate with Racetech to launch its new official Jump race timing technology.

The new technology elevates the levels of accurate and consistent timing data from jump fixtures, utilising data developed by Racetech, the system will use break-beam technology.

Emma Marley, Head of Racecourse Operations at the BHA, commented: “The new electronic Jump timing technology has been trialled extensively and will provide more consistent, reliable and centralised data for the sport’s participants and customers at Cheltenham this week and for their future fixtures.”

“We will look to make the Jump timing technology available for roll out to all Jump courses over the next 12 months.”

Break-beam technology works by sending an invisible beam across the width of the track from a tripod stand located close to the starter’s rostrum approximately one metre from the starting tape. Once the beam is broken by the first horse crossing it, a signal is sent to the judge’s box to begin the timing function.

The timer will stop once the nose of the winner crosses the finish line, which will then calculate a winning time for the race – made available via the results section of the BHA site. Times and distances for individual finishers afterwards are then calculated through the photo finish system and also displayed on the results section of the BHA website, as is the case currently.

Simon Claisse, Regional Head of Racing, South West & Clerk of the Course at Cheltenham, added: “We are delighted to be working at the forefront of technology with enhancements to race timing that will help deliver the most accurate outcomes.”

John Bozza, CEO of Racetech concluded: “RaceTech is delighted to have worked with the BHA and our racecourse stakeholders to develop this new informative technology, supporting our vision to be the technical service provider of choice for UK racing. It is especially pleasing to launch this week at the Cheltenham Festival.”

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