A major breakthrough in racing data - but the sport has so much further to go

After just the five-year delay, the introduction of sectional times at the Curragh last weekend marked a major and long-overdue breakthrough for Irish racing – but it must be only the start.

After various trials, the Curragh released sectional times for 12 of the 23 races across the three-day meeting. Yes, some of the data was inaccurate, but this was perhaps to be expected – the data supplied by Racecourse Media Group's supplier, Coursetrack, also came with clear, obvious errors when it was first used in Britain – and lessons will be learned as Horse Racing Ireland works towards a full release.

The full, accurate data cannot come soon enough for racing. You only have to look at a host of other sports, notably football and cricket, to see how increasing the amount of data available engages people – younger audiences love statistics and anything they can try to use to find an edge, solve a puzzle or increase their understanding. Yet racing has failed to grasp the opportunity.