Report: Gmax timing system continues to have problems

Equibase's Gmax timing system continues to have problems despite the company saying in August that it would conduct an "extensive analysis" of the system.

Thoroughbred Daily News reported Monday that it found recent examples of problems at Del Mar, Tampa Bay Downs and Penn National.

Media outlets reported a series of problems with the GPS-based timing system since it was introduced in the U.S. in 2018, including this year's Del Mar summer meet. Starting with the Aug. 2 card Del Mar used hand timing rather than Gmax for all its grass races through the remainder of the meet, according to the TDN report.

Tampa Bay Downs, which is using Gmax for the first time, had problems in the early days of its current meet. The chart for the first race on opening day, Nov. 25, noted that the race was hand-timed, according to the report, as did the charts for five races on Nov. 28.

In some races, no times were posted on the tote board, and in others, clearly incorrect times were listed.

Tampa Bay Downs President Pete Berube told TDN that some of the problems were related to an outside vendor that handles the track's TV graphics. He said he remained confident in Gmax.