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"EYE IN THE SKT INSTAlllf .. - -. :ia Camera Finish for Every Race to Be Run at Arlington Park. Consists of Two High Speed Motion Picture Cameras Designed to Eliminate Parallax. The most startling improvement in modern day horse, racing; the "Eye in the Sky," which decides close finishes, has been installed at the beautiful Arlington Park race track, near Chicago, and will picture the finish of every race during the thirty-day meeting which opens June 29. This innovation in the sport of kings has been put through the acid test at Santa Anita and Narragansett Park, where it decided several close races, and was adopted at the big midwest racing center in Arlington Heights by unanimous consent of the officials and with the approval of the Illinois Racing Commission. Harry I. Day, scientist and expert oh high speed photography, invented and perfected the "Eye in the Sky" at a cost of more than 00,000. Its adoption at Arlington ran the tracks expense into the thousands, andthe device will cost about 50 a day to operate. The "eye" consists of two high speed motion picture cameras, especially" designed to eliminate parallax the difference in. two objects as the result of viewing them obliquely and capable of delivering a finished print of horses crossing under the wire in less than two minutes after a race is ended. Since it is geared to take 165 pictures a second, and since the average race horse in a fast race moves at a. rate of 55 feet per second, the device assures delivery of pictures showing the nose of the winner, or in the case of a dead heat, two hoses, directly on the finish line. It derived its name, "Eye in the Sky," from the fact that it actually is located at a height of 110 feet above the track in a specially constructed tower 280 feet from the finish line. The camera is focused at an angle of thirty degrees, and placed in such a position that all distortion is eliminated. Track authorities point out that the most amazing feature about the "eye" is that it is focused accurately and clicks at a speed that prevents a difference of more than a quarter of an inch in presenting the position of horses on the track, a feat that no human eye could perform. In the finished -picture, this difference is so minute that it could not be found even with the aid of a magnifying glass. Another salient point is that not only the leaders are pictured, but every horse is registered and timed electrically as it crosses the finish line. Even in a sixteen-horse race, the judges could give the position of every horse correctly. After a close finish, the judges will receive a finished picture which can be delivered before the jockeys have finished weighing in. The racing arbiters will study the picture as surgeons analyze an X-ray photo, and then make their decision. The picture on which they based their verdict will be displayed at advantageous points in the grandstands and paddock. It will settle all arguments indisputably.
