Racecourses expected to fund new sectional timing trials in Ireland this summer

After a five-year delay from its original due date, plans are being put in place to trial sectional timing technology for Irish racing this summer, although not all tracks will partake in the tests due to operational costs falling on the shoulders of racecourses.

SIS currently holds the rights to implement sectional technology as part of Irish racing's media rights deal struck in 2016 – an agreement worth around £39 million a year that is set to expire at the end of 2023.

However, Association of Irish Racecourses CEO Paddy Walsh has revealed that SIS is now happy for Racecourse Media Group's timing partner Coursetrack to work on advancing the initiative before the next media rights agreement comes into play in 2024, a deal that is currently being negotiated.

SIS agreed to introduce sectional timing at every Irish course from January 2017, claiming it had the potential to "revolutionise Irish racing" and potentially "change how punters bet on racing forever". The press release announcing this agreement has seemingly been removed from SIS's website in recent weeks.

Paddy Walsh: CEO of Association of Irish Racecourses

It is understood that original plans for the technology to generate income through new in-running betting processes have not materialised, meaning that tracks, rather than SIS, are now required to fund the upcoming trials.

Walsh said: "Initially there was a view that maybe there might be money in this from an in-running betting perspective, that you'd use the data to generate algorithms that would generate prices for you and you'd have an almost new betting market that could generate money.

"I'm not sure that's actually going to pan out. As they looked into it, it just didn't seem to be maybe as good as they might have thought back in the day."

Walsh added: "If that had happened, I would have expected that whether it would be SIS or anybody else, they would in turn not only pay for it, but it would also generate additional income for racecourses as well.

"What we're talking about now is having a product that will give a better presentation of what people are watching, particularly in the international markets. Longer term, I see it having benefits.

"There would be a cost to racecourses. How much that will be will depend on how many tracks come into it, how much the capital investment will be. Then we have a daily charge as well. We estimated some time ago that it would cost, as a broad outline, roughly €1,000 a day when you take everything into account."

Total Performance Data, which provides such information for numerous British tracks through a tri-party collaboration with At The Races and Arena Racing Company, told the Racing Post in January 2021 that it could be "up and running within days" if invited to provide services for Irish racing.

Sectional timing technology would be a valuable addition to Tote World Pool fixtures such as Longines Irish Champions WeekendCredit: Patrick McCann (racingpost.com/photos)

Walsh would not be drawn on how many tracks are interested in trialling the technology as discussions continue.

"While some of our racecourses were happy to go along with it, others felt just that at the moment things are a bit tight," he said.

"They also recognise that there can be a benefit there for our customers, particularly in the international markets where they expect to see this kind of information."

Walsh added: "The bottom line is that some tracks have said they'd like to go with this and see how it works out as an experiment. Our current media rights deal goes up until the end of 2023, so we have an opportunity to do a trial over that period before tying ourselves down to whatever we might do in our next deal.

"It will probably take us until the summer before we get it up and running – that's the plan. Maybe not every track will go with it initially, but let's see how it works out. If it's successful, I'm sure we'll bring the rest of them with us."

SIS said there was not anyone available to respond to the Racing Post's queries regarding sectional timing when contacted in recent days.

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