Supermarket self checkouts, driverless cars and even automatic doors have given rise to workers being replaced by automated technology.

But can the horse racing industry afford to risk technology errors when it comes to the sport? 

In the past, horses were cross-referenced against a clipboard of illustrations of their brands and markings.

It was this week 37 years ago that one of Australia’s most notorious ring-ins was run at Brisbane’s Eagle Farm racetrack.

The scheme involved a faster horse (Bold Personality) being substituted for the slower Fine Cotton, with punters in the know set to pocket around $2 million. 

Fine Cotton won narrowly, but after the race a closer examination revealed crudely applied white paint on the horse’s hind legs (hidden behind bandages) and the horse was disqualified.

Nowadays, it’s unthinkable to consider a painted horse could pass stewards’ checks, thanks to a microchip in the left-hand side of the horse’s neck.

The modern race steward 

At this season’s Broome races, Bruce Baird has been in charge of checking the right horse will be racing with the right equipment.

His job with Racing and Wagering Western Australia (RWWA) involves using a scanner that looks like a gym weight to check the horses before they parade before the punters.

Mr Baird’s job revolves around three important things — the chip number, the trainer and, more importantly, the saddlecloth number.

He admits that “sometimes gear gets confused” but that he has never had a horse mix-up in his career, keeping a keen eye on all the runners as they gear up.

Thoroughbreds have been microchipped since 2003, and the practice was mandated in standardbred horses by Harness Racing Australia in 2017. 

But not all states have used microchip scanners — in 2019, Queensland officials inspecting only brands and markings mistakenly allowed the wrong horse to race.

In Broome, Mr Baird runs his scanner over the horses’ necks with agile accuracy while weaving between the prancing steeds in their stalls.

Although he’s dealing with energetic animals, he’s never been bitten during his 12 years scanning horses.

“I usually get a handful of the collar and push his head away so he can’t get at me and scan him.”

Growing up with horses

Mr Baird lives in retirement bliss in Mandurah, but every year he travels to Broome during the race rounds with RWWA.

He’s no newcomer to the industry.

But when asked if he ever wanted to be a jockey as a child, Mr Baird laughed loudly and said he was too heavy.

Replaced by a computer?

But Mr Baird fears his job will be replaced by automation.

“One day, I guess, they’ll just walk the horse through a scanner like they do in the airports and bingo, you’ll be right to run.”

But when questioned about possible automation, a RWWA spokesperson said it was more efficient to have a person do the scanning rather than a machine. 

“At the races, we only have between 80 and 120 horses to scan on any one day as they enter the racecourse, and as such the hand-held units operated by a person are more than sufficient and not particularly time-consuming,” they said.

RWWA acknowledged that while automation of the process was possible, there was little efficiency to be gained due to the relatively small number of horses that needed to be scanned for races.

As for Mr Baird, you can expect him to be at next year’s Broome race meets with his trusty yellow scanner in hand and not a lick of white paint in sight.