ELECTRIC CLOCK
TIMING BY INVISIBLE RAY
EXPERIMENT AT NEWMARKET.
LONDON, October 7
The first experiment in the electrical timing of. a horse ruco with an invisible violet ray, projected across , til© course from the judge’s box was ; tried thns week at Newmarket, and' is declared tel have bec/n a complete success on the seeond day.
It had been held up for 24 hours because the flash of a lamp when the light goes out and the ray is broken by the leading horse had “blinded” the judge’s view of tne finish. Placing the lamp a,t the judge’s side instead of on the blackboard on the far aide of the course has made alb the difference.
The stewards of the Jockey Club have decided to restrict the method to Newmarket for the time being, but after exhaustive tests- clerk® of courses of other venues will he instructed to install similar apparatus.
Tne height of the buam. is roughly 3ft. 9in, and it is aimed to “hit” the winning horse just on his breast. Thus, as- near as possible, the winning horse’s body strikes the beam .at the-' same time a® his nose comes into line with the judge’s eye. Inside the judge’s box-, at about the level of the judge’s head, is fixed the clock, above which is the red light which is ilium-’ iiwted when the starting-gate is low--ered into position. At' present- the official- timing is confined to races over the Rous five furlong® course but other starting gateswill -soc'tt.'be fitted with the-: apparatus.
HELPING THE JUDGE. The “Sporting Life” explains that 1 ,as soon as • the. horses came under; ' starter’s orders & buzzer was heard from the judges’© box, and the red light.;was visible. At the rise of the : barrier the light went out, and the stop clock ticked on until Tartan ran 'into the ray. As-soon as the numbers of the -first three horses had been put in the frame the judge read the clock,' and within a few seconds the time" of the race, “one minute four and three ; fifths seconds,” was displayed, . ,71, j consider that the experiment has proved a thorough success,”, said Mr Malcolm Hancock, the judge. “Ithelped me, because-I knew at once when the start had been made whereas formerly I have, been in some doubt 1 about it. As.iuimatter of fact, I knew that the 'horses- had started five seconds before , the starting bell on the stands was .rung.”., : , .. : v .■. : Three independent dockers registered one ,mi)jitue four,, one, minute four, >v and one-minute-three-.and fourfifths secondfiy/against the official time of one minute four and three-fifths sef-onds,-nj-'-'-orw.. >-•- <r:
Lord Hare-wood; who, was keenly uv terest-ed in. then experiment, cqmmenting on this fact, stated 1 that the official time must always; be slower than the unofficial time, because a space must intervene between a-, dcck-hqlder noting, the, first movement of the; horse-! and timing - the start, wherens the race actually begins when the barrier goes up, this synchronising with the starting, of the clock.
None of the jockeys observed a flash as they passed- the- post. “T.t is bit eerie b-rci-ng into an invisible rav,” laughed., Harry Wragg, who won the first experimental race on Lord Rosebelry’s Tartan. The electrical timing method,, which is popular in South Africa and other countries, and also on .many greyhound racing tracks over here,, .is., so far confined! to the Rous course over five; furlongs* here.
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Hokitika Guardian, 28 November 1932, Page 8
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567ELECTRIC CLOCK Hokitika Guardian, 28 November 1932, Page 8
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