ANNOUNCEMENT: Change to Official Distances
From Boxing Day 2010 we will be ceasing to use a 'Distance' as an official term when calculating the distances that horses have been beaten. This will mean that when a horse is beaten by greater than thirty lengths the old term of 'Distance' will not be applied. For the purposes of greater accuracy the Judging department will now announce the actual number of lengths that a horse is beaten, when giving out the distances as part of the result.
This would mean that, for example, in the case of when Kauto Star won last year's King George VI Chase at Kempton on Boxing Day, that the distance calculated would have been 36 lengths, rather than him winning by a 'Distance'.
To enable this change to take place, the Photo-finish software which calculates distances based on the elapsed time between each horse multiplied by the Lengths per Second Scale in use, dependant on the ground conditions, has had to be extended beyond thirty lengths. We will now calculate distances up to 99 lengths, after which they will appear as 99+ which is how they currently are reported in the Press for their cumulative distances.
This change is in line with Racing for Change and will give the Public and those that bet on distances more accurate information.
