Even though horse racing looks the same as 100 years ago, if we strip the first layer we can find out that technology has changed the entire sport. Back in the day, it was hard to decide the winner in a close race, but nowadays, the winner can be decided even when the difference is in millimeters.
Then we have the other part of horse racing that we don’t usually see. The training. We’re all excited when a race like the Breeders’ Cup is live, but we never talk about the hard work that goes into preparing a horse for such a race. For generations, trainers have relied on their experience, a stopwatch, and the observations of exercise riders. And honestly, considering how many extraordinary champions have been produced using those methods, they’ve clearly been doing something right.
Photo by Stanislav Kondratiev: https://www.pexels.com
But there is a difference between knowing that a horse competed fast and the reason behind the result. That’s why today, small GPS devices and wearable sensors are recording detailed information about a horse’s movement, speed, heart rate, and recovery during training or even in a live race.
Let’s dive into geospatial tech and GPS tracking and find out how this technology changed the world of horse racing.
How GPS Tracking Actually Works on a Racehorse
Most of us are familiar with GPS through our phones or car navigation systems. Yes, the technology is similar, but the purpose is different. The technology uses signals from satellites to calculate a device’s position, allowing it to record movement across a particular area.
So, in horse racing, the principle is quite similar, although the equipment is designed to handle considerably higher speeds and gather more data points (which normal GPS sensors that we use on our mobile don’t).
We’re talking about a compact tracking device that’s usually fitted securely to the horse’s equipment, such as a girth, saddle pad, or specially designed saddlecloth. And as the horse exercises, the device records its location at regular intervals, then people use software to analyze those measurements and make them useful.
Then we have geospatial technology, which adds another useful element in the world of horse racing by connecting this information to an actual location. So, instead of receiving a list of numbers, a trainer can examine a map showing precisely where the horse accelerated, slowed down, or maintained its pace.
This data is especially useful in horse racing, and professional trainers, especially those preparing horses for big events like the Breeders’ Cup Classic, use GPS technology in their training routines.
But this data is also useful for bettors who are making a decision on which horse to place a bet on, but it is not often publicly available.
Trainers Can Compare a Horse With Itself
One of the most useful applications of tracking technology is surprisingly unglamorous.
It creates history.
A trainer can record workouts over weeks or months and examine how one horse changes as fitness develops. EQUIMETRE’s software, for instance, allows longitudinal comparison of speed, heart rate and locomotion across previous training sessions rather than treating each gallop as an isolated event.
That is often more meaningful than comparing every horse in the stable against one supposedly perfect number.
Racehorses are individuals.
One may naturally have a longer stride. Another may take shorter, quicker steps. One horse’s heart rate may recover differently from another’s.
GPS Can Tell You Where the Effort Actually Happened
The geographical side becomes especially interesting on large training grounds.
With coordinates attached to the workout, a trainer can see where the horse began its serious exercise, where it accelerated and where it started slowing down. Some systems allow specific finish-line coordinates to be added so that the final 200 or 400 metres can be examined consistently from one workout to another.
This helps separate distance from intensity.
Covering three kilometres does not necessarily mean completing three kilometres of demanding work.
A horse may spend much of that distance walking, trotting or cantering before completing one short high-speed effort. Modern tracking software can automatically distinguish different sections and provide data for the important part rather than averaging everything into one wonderfully meaningless number.
Heart Rate Makes the Location Data Much More Useful
Knowing that a horse reached a certain speed is useful.
Knowing what its body had to do to reach that speed is better.
This is why many equine performance systems combine GPS with heart-rate monitoring. A trainer can examine the horse’s cardiovascular response during faster sections and, importantly, how quickly the heart rate falls after the exercise ends.
Scientific research supports the idea that combining velocity and heart rate can provide useful measures of fitness. One study of Thoroughbred racehorses found that field measurements of heart rate and GPS-recorded velocity could reliably detect changes associated with training.
Final Thoughts
So, basically modern GPS technology no allows us to collect more data points, which is useful for optimizing the training routine of a horse (every horse is different), for preparing for a big event, for tracking the health status of the horse, and to avoid injuries that might owners millions of dollars.
This technology is constantly improving, especially in the era of AI, and we’re sure that in the future data will change the sport even more.