In the United States, Philip Antonacci is a thoroughbred racehorse trainer who has a stable of about 25 horses. He competes in races on the East Coast, including New York, New Jersey, Kentucky, Florida, and Pennsylvania. He has been an Equimetre customer since June 2021, and he told us more about his experience with the use of data on racehorses, with the platform and with the product.

What was the driving force behind your decision to collect data on your horses?

I am a big believer in gathering as much information as possible to help you make the best decisions about your horses’ training and management. And I am a big believer in heart rate data; I have been looking for the right platform and technology to use in our training. It is a valuable tool for me to collect more data about horses and, hopefully, improve our decision-making in the future.

What do you expect from Equimetre?

I expect the technology and algorithms behind the data to be accurate, easy to use, and easy to interpret because gathering data is one thing. Still, once you have it, you need to use it properly and analyze it. Equimetre does a very good job of laying out the data for you in easy, understandable terms. 

How does data collection play a role in your horses’ training and decision-making?

I require that horses wear the EQUIMETRE whenever they are trained. We keep track of everything on the internet as well as on an Excel spreadsheet. To ensure split times match up, we also use our own speed data tool. We attempt to devote a couple of hours every week to interpreting the data and analyzing how the horses are doing in fitness.

Do you have a horse whose data has improved with time and training?

We purchased a racing filly privately last year. She ran into some soundness concerns, and it has been difficult for her to stay sound. We had her in a fantastic routine, and despite being on an extended layoff, she produced outstanding cardio-vascular statistics, indicating that she was fit. We breezed her a few times, and her data responded nicely, and she raced well after that. We are utilizing critical markers to decide and analyze each horse, and then we can say, “OK, this horse had a wonderful performance, and this was his data before the race”. From there, we may target these data points for his next race and anticipate him to perform well. Once we have collected data and correlated it with how horses race, we can make great decisions and point horses to different races.

What metrics are you interested in? How do you use the solution daily?

My favorite feature is being able to track all of my horses’ metrics, such as how much time they spend in the heart rate zones, which I believe is significant, as well as the time to recover. I think we must understand how long it took our horses to recover. Some horses, like people, get more out of an exercise than others, and the time they spend in each heart rate zone determines how long they need to recover. The stride length and frequency measurements are also relevant. Equimetre is constantly developing new tools to assist us, such as the oxygen debt time, which is a new parameter we’re attempting to get acclimated to the best of our ability.

Keywords: racehorse fitness monitor, heart rate monitoring, equimetre testimonials, thoroughbreds in the US