RaceTech’s long-standing relationship with horse racing in the United Kingdom (UK) has played a massive role in promoting the sport to a wider audience.
The London-headquartered company’s passion for innovation is at the centre of its remarkable growth over the years, and it is showing no signs of slowing down.
RaceTech recently took another huge step towards redefining UK horse racing coverage by introducing a series of groundbreaking camera innovations.
This latest development will likely attract admiring glances from broadcasters overseas, whose coverage often takes inspiration from RaceTech’s innovations.
RaceTech’s Camera System Will Fire Racing Coverage into Another Stratosphere
RaceTech’s Across the Line’ camera system was developed from the equipment traditionally used in crash tests and is placed right across the finish line.
The idea is to capture detailed footage of horses crossing the finish line in slow motion at 1,000 frames per second. The camera is automated and does not require any human involvement.
It delivers the footage within 15 seconds, which will then be shown to viewers as part of the live footage. It will help officials accurately call the winner of a tight race.
RaceTech has also introduced drone footage to capture all the live action across racecourses. Taking into account the limited geographical range of drones, RaceTech have moved their operators into mobile vehicles that follow the race.
This ensures the drone is always in range and can keep the fans up to speed regardless of the length of the racecourse. Larger racecourses such as Newmarket and Ascot can now enjoy full aerial coverage for the first time.
Another innovation RaceTech recently introduced is the stables handler cam. The tech is still in the trial phase, but it will provide a unique insight into pre-race preparations.
The system delivers up-close footage of the start of the race when horses are being led into the starting stalls, which was previously unavailable.
RaceTech took things up a notch by adding audio clips for a more immersive peek behind the scenes, where viewers can also listen to handlers talk to their horses and jockeys in the build-up to the race.
Australian Broadcasters Take Inspiration from RaceTech
Widely viewed as one of the leading innovators in racing coverage, it is little wonder that many of RaceTech’s ideas inspire improvements in other jurisdictions.
These include Australia, where broadcasters Racing.com are among a plethora of companies offering extensive coverage of the Sport of Kings.
The collaborated last year with Gravity Media to broadcast the Royal Ascot meeting, and a sizeable proportion of their coverage centred around the international feed provided by RaceTech.
The partnership brought UK racing closer to Aussie fans than ever before, and inevitably triggered a spike in activity on online betting platforms.
This forced the best betting apps in Australia to ramp up their coverage of Royal Ascot and has had a knock-on effect to other UK meetings since then.
Racing.com have also taken inspiration from RaceTech’s innovations and are working towards integrating them into their coverage of Australian horse racing.
This serves to strengthen RaceTech’s position as a global leader when it comes to implementing innovative ideas in horse racing coverage.
RaceTech Will Continue to Keep Raising the bar for UK Racing
RaceTech produces live horse racing content for over 1,500 races every year and has done business with major rights holders such as ITV Racing, Sky Sports Racing and The Racing Partnership.
Aside from the role it plays in the broadcast sector, integrity services, archive management and on-course productions are also part of the comprehensive services the company offers year-round.
RaceTech is no stranger to innovation in horse racing broadcast tech. They developed their first ever photo-finish camera back in the 1940s and supplied racing’s first high-definition scanners in 2010, so they are familiar with the inner workings of the industry.
Next on the company’s to-do list is expanding its facility in Raynes Park to six production galleries, a master control room and two replay rooms.
RaceTech is keen to switch things up by handling productions remotely to increase efficiency and allow them to provide more scalable broadcasting solutions.
“We are talking to the other rights holders about bringing them on that remote production journey with us,” RaceTech chief executive officer John Bozza said.
“The spare gallery we’ve got is actually the biggest, and it could be used for a number of different things. It could be dedicated to a larger race meeting, or it could be used for another sport.”