SARATOGA SPRINGS – If you ask Mike Jones how he sees the future of horse racing, he will tell you he’s looking at it from someone else’s perspective.
Jones is the owner of Fort Edward-based JonesCAM and the creative mind behind the JockeyCAM, a tiny, high-tech technology that captures horse racing from a jockey’s point of view.
The micro-camera helps Thoroughbred trainers and jockeys perfect their stride, and Jones is confident it will double as an attraction for new fans to the sport and a moneymaker for the industry.
Jones is not the first to introduce the helmet camera, but his high-definition device is the smallest on the market. At 3-ounces, this micro-cam is no bigger than a lipstick; it is easily Velcroed to a jockey’s helmet, and used to record a bird’s-eye view of their warm-ups and races.
Jones, a retired ski coach with an Olympic track record, began making micro-cams 15 years ago for athletic training purposes. It wasn’t until 2005 that he applied the concept to horseracing, a sport for which the micro-cams act as not only an excellent training tool but also bring something new and stimulating to the industry.
This summer, after six years of research and modifications, Jones revealed his JonesCAM HD JockeyCAM, to top trainers and jockeys, who have already put it to use at the Oklahoma Track. He’s currently in discussions with representatives from five American race courses that are interested in filming live races on their tracks.
For trainers, the JockeyCAM is invaluable. They can still view performances from the rail, and then watch the same run from the jockey’s perspective in HD. That POV footage offers a unique opportunity for analysis, especially when coupled with traditional video.
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“You can see things you can’t see from binoculars; you can hear the horse breathe; you can tell how he handles the rail or other horses – was he aggressive, did he drift?” Jones said.
Prominent trainer George Weaver said the POV footage is also an excellent tool for owners, who sometimes cheer for their Thoroughbreds from afar.
“Owners put up a lot of money,” he explained. “It’s a different perspective; they get to see and feel [their horse] train from a bird’s-eye view.”
Weaver said the whole game is about excitement; that in his over 20 years of horse racing involvement, he never thought this type of technology would be available.
“But, I’m glad it is,” he said.
Like Weaver, Trainer Gary Contessa of Gary Contessa Racing sees a great benefit to using the POV footage.
He has already used Jones’s camera during a dozen or so workouts in Saratoga Springs.
“Why? I use them because it makes sense,” he said. “It’s a great training tool; I would like to use it every day.”
At this point, the cameras are not approved for race use in New York, which is unfortunate for Contessa, who said the technology is a great way to see a horse in action, but would be even “better in race mode” – and not only to the athlete’s benefit.
Jones proposes integrating footage into the action at the race course, via onsite screens and streaming videos that can be easily accessed through smartphones.
“I think the public would love it,” he said. “The only way of explaining it is NASCAR. Look at what cockpit cams have done – a quarter of a million people logged on across the world for the Indy 500. Horse racing needs to come up to speed.”
Picture people all over the world watching races from two angles, the jockey’s perspective and regular race footage: “This could open the game to a new group of thrill-seekers, to people who don’t want to go to the track,” Contessa said.
Current top jockey and Jockey Guild President John Velazquez and racing hall-of-famer Angel Cordero, both pointed to the technology’s value for spectators.
Velazquez said POV footage “is the way to go” – “It will impact the sport. People will see the ins and outs; how close we get how fast [we go].”
From Cordero’s perspective as a retired athlete who has witnessed a half-century’s worth of Thoroughbred industry ups and downs, the cameras are a logical next stop.
In his last 10 years watching football and other sports on television, Cordero said he’s noticed an increasing use of video
technology.
“All the other sports are moving forward with it, so I don’t see the reason why our sport isn’t,” he said. “I have tested it before myself, the majority of riders I have talked to agree with it; think it’s a great idea; it could attract a new crowd.”
For Jones, the potential to reach new audiences and attract more fans is the most exciting feature of the JockeyCAM, and it’s exactly what the industry needs.
He explained that industry stats point to an older population of fans, and a younger generation that isn’t “filling the void.”
“Something has to be done to keep this business alive,” Jones said.
For more information about JonesCAM’s HD JockeyCAM, visit www.JonesCAM.tv
