Last Updated on August 15, 2026
Few sights in sport are more dramatic than a horse race decided by inches. Punters hold their breath, owners and trainers lean over the rails, and the commentator’s voice rises as the field flashes past the post.
Today, the photo finish camera settles the argument in a split second. But before this technology arrived, deciding who had actually won could be messy, controversial, and sometimes wrong.
The first photo finish in horse racing is often credited to 1881 in New Jersey, when photographer Ernest Marks captured the moment horses crossed the line.
Sadly, that image has been lost to time. The oldest surviving photo finish is from June 25, 1890, when John C. Hamment photographed the famous match race between Salvator (ridden by Isaac Burns Murphy) and Tenny (with Edward Garrison up).
Hamment’s image (A.I. enhanced version below) endures as the earliest surviving picture of a race decided by the camera, while Marks’ earlier effort is remembered only in reports.
The image was crude by modern standards, but it marked the start of racing’s long relationship with photography.
In Britain, it wasn’t until the 1940s that photo finish cameras were introduced, but America led the way decades earlier.
Judging Finishes Before the Camera
Before photography, close finishes were left to the eyes of the judge, usually stationed in a small box by the winning post.
If three horses thundered across together, the judge had to make a call based on eyesight alone.
This led to disputes, heated arguments from punters, and more than a few controversial results. Dead heats were often declared simply because nobody could be sure.
In some cases, a string was stretched across the line to help judges see which horse broke it first. Later, experiments were made with cameras triggered by a thread.
These offered snapshots of the finish, but results were often blurred, especially if several horses were close together. Accuracy was far from guaranteed.
The Hollywood Connection
The breakthrough came in California in 1937, when the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club opened its doors.
The track was co-founded by Bing Crosby, the Hollywood star who famously sang “Where the Turf Meets the Surf” on its opening day. Wanting his racecourse to feel modern, Crosby turned to Paramount Pictures engineer Lorenzo Del Riccio to solve the problem of close finishes.
Del Riccio designed a “strip camera” that focused on a vertical slit aligned with the finishing post.
As film moved past the slit at the same rate as the horses, every fraction of a second was recorded. Instead of a single blurry photo, the result was a continuous record of horses crossing the line in order.
For the first time, racing had a practical, reliable way to decide the tightest contests. From Del Mar, the technology spread to racecourses around the world.
In Australia, photographer Athol Shmith and engineer Bertram Pearl later refined the system, adding neon timing pulses and better mirrors to increase accuracy.
By the late 1940s, the photo finish had become part of the sport’s fabric, replacing the old reliance on the judge’s eye.
When More Than Two Horses Hit the Line
Most fans think of photo finishes as head-to-head battles between two horses, but some of the most astonishing results have involved three, four, or even more runners crossing together.
Multi-horse photo finishes are rare, but they do happen and produce some of the most memorable racing images.
In Britain a six-horse photo finish at the 2016 Beverley Bullet had punters stunned. Less than half a length separated the first six home, and without the photo finish camera it would have been impossible to untangle.
These examples highlight why the technology is so crucial. Without it, the chaos of five noses lunging for the line would have left only angry bookmakers and frustrated punters. Instead, the camera provides certainty, even if the margin is no more than a pixel wide.
Modern Photo Finish Technology
Today, the same principle of Lorenzo Del Riccio’s slit camera remains in place, but the process has gone digital.
High-speed sensors capture thousands of images per second, producing instant strips that judges can examine in real time. Margins of victory can now be measured to the thousandth of a second.
The modern system doesn’t just decide winners. It is vital for betting markets, which handle millions of pounds every day, and for the sport’s credibility.
A dead heat is still possible, but only when the technology proves there is truly no difference. The days of guesswork are long gone.
From Guesswork to Precision
The story of the first photo finish in horse racing shows how much the sport has evolved.
From judges straining their eyes, to crude experiments with wires and cameras, to Bing Crosby’s Del Mar track introducing Hollywood-grade technology, the photo finish has transformed the way results are decided.
Close finishes will always bring tension and excitement, but the knowledge that technology can provide a fair and accurate result makes those moments even more thrilling.
Whether it’s two horses locked in battle or six flashing across the line together, the photo finish camera ensures we know exactly who has their nose in front.
