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RAY-TIMING AT NEWMARKET Experiment Successful After First Day Adjustments Made. .. English Officials Decide to Restrict Use ol Device to Newmarket Course Until. .. Further Experiments. LONDON, England. The attempt to take the times of races by an electrical timing apparatus, which had failed at Newmarket when first attempted, was a complete success the following day. The stewards of the jockey club decided to restrict the electric timing experiment to Newmarket for the time being, but after exhaustive tests clerks of courses of other venues will be instructed to install similar apparatus. In order that the judge should not be hampered in his work, the ray projector was changed over to the other side of the course. The beam comes from a position just in. front of the judges box and some nine inches before the winning post. Th height of the beam, is roughly, 3 feet 9 inchesj and it is aimed to "hit" the winning horse just on his breast. Thus, as near as possible, the winning horses body strikes the beam at the same time as his nose comes into line with the judges eye. Inside the judges box, at about the level of his head, is fixed the clock, above which is the red light, which is illuminated when the starting-gate is lowered into position. At present the official timing is confined to races over the Rous five furlongs course, but other starting gates will soon be fitted with the apparatus. The Linton Stakes was the first race in which it was used. B HELPING THE JUDGE. As soon as the horses came under starters orders a buzzer was heard from the judges box and the red light was visible. At the rise of the barrier the light went but 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 second the time of the race, "one minute four and three-fifths seconds," was displayed. "I consider that the experiment has proved a thorough success," said. Mr. Malcolm Hancock, the judge. "It helped me, because I knew at once when the start had been made, whereas formerly I have been in some doubt about it. As a matter of fact, I knew that the horses had started five seconds before the starting bell on the stands was rung." Three independent dockers registered one minute four, one minute four and one minute three and four-fifths seconds, against the official time of one minute four and three-fifths seconds. Lord Harewood, who was keenly interested in the experiment, commenting on thi3 fact, stated that the official time must always be slower than the unofficial time, because a space must intervene between a clock-holder noting the first movement of the horse and timing the start, whereas the race actually begins when the barrier goes up, this synchonizing with the starting of the clock.
