Barry Weisbord | horse photo
Via Jessica Martini
Trakus, the timing and tracking system introduced to the racing industry at Keeneland in 2006, will cease operations in the country on December 31, company president Barry Weisbord confirmed on Wednesday.
“Trakus will close domestic operations on December 31, all routes have been announced,” Weisbord said. “We have a number of international contracts and some of them will continue for a period of time, but not a significant amount of time.”
Several tracks already using Trakus, including the New York Racing Association track, are expected to migrate to Equibase’s lower-cost global positioning satellite system.
“It’s going down because it’s lost so much money,” Weisbord said of Trakus’ end. “We lost a lot of money for a long time. We finally broke even and Equibase took some of our business away thanks to their GPS system. We tried to convince them to take a closer look at our GPS system, but that didn’t happen and they went with another company. It put us in an unworkable situation.”
When it launched 16 years ago, Trakus provided horse racing fans with not only previously unavailable data, but also graphics that allowed horse riders to have a better look at how the races were going. .
“Trakus has given people complex information – such as the actual foot that is covered – that many tracks have put on their simulated broadcasts and simulated broadcast presenters,” says Weisbord. interviewer talked about that. “The fans talked about it in the big races – you hit your head and you went 28 feet away from the winner. People already understand what those four lengths mean. And we introduced that.”
Through chicks, which provide real-time graphics for every horse on the field, Trakus also introduces a new way to watch racing.
“Having worked in television, where we came up with four figures from a guy with binoculars, we always thought that if you could have the right whole field leadership, then you should,” says Weisbord. that will be all and end all. “What the chicks can bring is clarity to that picture. The graphics can tell the story of the race and it doesn’t matter how tight the director made the field or whether he scrolled through that field or not. No matter what he’s showing, you’ll know who’s second or third in your multi-horse bet. They’re showing Flightline drawing, there’s no chicks there, you don’t know who’s second or third. That clarity to fans and bettors is crucial to making the race more enjoyable to watch. 16 years ago, we didn’t know how important that would be – we didn’t know back then that people would be able to watch videos on their phones.”
Looking to the future of the technology he helped introduce in the industry nearly two decades ago, Weisbord says: “It’s now my wish for the industry that companies that continue to operate will continue to provide data. better materials and continue to produce better graphics. Because that’s what the industry needs to compete with other sports and other forms of entertainment.”
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This story was posted in Top News and tagged Barry Weisbord, Balance basis, New York Racing Association, Trakus.
