Woodbine charts automated

Woodbine has become the first Thoroughbred track in North America to use automated charting information supplied by Trakus, the wireless tracking system that involves a radio transponder in each horse's saddlecloth.

The system, which has been used to provide charting information for Standardbred races at Woodbine and nearby Mohawk Raceway since the fall of 2006, has been in use for the Woodbine Thoroughbred meeting that opened April 5.

The charting information for interior points of call is relayed from Trakus to the data provider Equibase. The on-site Equibase chart-caller no longer has to call the races manually but still composes the comments and footnotes and compiles the mutuel, timing, and equipment information that goes into each chart. The official order of finish and margins are provided by TelePhoto and the fractional and final times by Teletimer.

Trakus, a Boston-based company, began providing Woodbine with graphics for its live and televised races in 2005. Keeneland and Del Mar also use Trakus for their television graphics.

Trakus also provides information such as the actual distance traveled, in feet, for each horse and the average speed in miles per hour.