By Andrew Beyer
Friday, September 12, 1997; Page D10

Although the thoroughbred industry is reputed to be stodgy and resistant to change, it is rapidly embracing high-tech innovations. Most U.S. racetracks have established sites on the Internet, and one, in particular, may provide a glimpse of the sport's future.

Del Mar, whose summertime racing season ends today, has been a trail-blazer in cyberspace. The California track began last year to offer continuous audio coverage of its entire racing card -- Trevor Denman's calls of each race, plus announcements and handicapping analysis in between. The necessary RealAudio software can be downloaded free from the Web site. (Other major tracks with audio include Keeneland, Santa Anita, Calder and the Fair Grounds.)

This year Del Mar introduced video coverage as well; the closed-circuit television feed appears on the computer screen just as it does on monitors in the track, showing the tote board, post parade and the races themselves. This technology is barely out of the starting gate, and the quality of the video transmission was herky-jerky at best; one viewer described the races as looking "like a big worm swimming in a river." Nevertheless, the technology is certain to improve, and it won't be long before a racing fan will be able to sit in front of a computer and see everything that he could in a simulcast facility.

RACING ON THE NET BEST RACETRACK SITES Del Mar: www.dmtc.com Louisiana Downs: ladowns.com Woodbine: www.ojc.com Keeneland: www.keeneland.com NATIONAL RACING INFORMATION Daily Racing Form: www.drf.com The site offers entries, results, news and the valuable StableMail feature, which allows users to list horses they want to follow and receive an e-mail message when the horses are entered. Bloodstock Research Information Services: www.bris.com In addition to selling many types of handicapping information, this site's SuperTote gives users free access to real-time odds from most major tracks. Equibase: www.equibase.com The site includes entries, results and full charts from many tracks. THE LIST OF LISTS The Mining Company: horseracing.miningco.com/mlibrary.htm Compiled by Cindy Pierson, this is the most complete compilation of racing-related sites -- with links to all U.S. tracks, plus racing organizations, foreign tracks, etc.

Besides coverage of its races, Del Mar presents a wide range of information -- entries, payoffs, late scratches and changes. It offers handicapping contests for Web site visitors as well as a "chat room" where they can swap opinions.

"We've attached importance to our Web site," Del Mar's Mary Shepardson said, "and we hope to be on the cutting edge. People with telephone-betting accounts love it. People who make early-bird bets at the track in the morning can go home, watch and listen. And people at other tracks who bet simulcasts build their familiarity with Del Mar. That makes them more likely to play our races."

Many other tracks have developed Web sites that use advanced technologies and display excellent graphics. George Kaywood, author of "Handicapping in Cyberspace," observed, "We've all criticized racing for not being in touch, but racing has taken to the Internet a lot more effectively than most businesses."

Woodbine Race Track in Toronto provides up-to-the-minute odds on its races, plus those of the tracks it simulcasts, principally for the benefit of telephone-betting customers.

Louisiana Downs has developed an excellent Web site oriented toward customers who want handicapping information. It publishes daily result charts, complete with footnotes, plus an array of useful data -- post position statistics for all distances, records of trainers with various types of horses, a tabulation of the most successful trainer-jockey combinations.

These may be especially useful for simulcast customers who don't have first-hand knowledge of the track. If an out-of-state bettor wants to play Louisiana Downs but doesn't know what the racing surface is like -- Is it speed-favoring? Is the rail good? -- he can study the result charts and find the answers.

The Internet is a perfect medium for the racing industry. People interested in the sport need access to a vast amount of information, and getting it has always been a difficult proposition.

Finding the results of a race usually requires the use of cumbersome (or expensive) telephone result lines. Obtaining early scratches -- especially for simulcast tracks -- has been unnecessarily difficult. Now such data is only a few mouse clicks away.

As more horseplayers get in the habit of using the Internet, it will be a natural development for racetracks to take wagers via computer. Nobody in the United States has offered off-track betting in this form yet, but it will be simpler and quicker to place bets with a keystroke instead of a phone call.

The potential of betting in cyberspace is so great that racing executives have been understandably panicked by a Senate bill that would broadly restrict gambling on the Internet.

Besides its usefulness as a vehicle for information and wagers, the Internet may benefit horse racing in another way. It is a common lament that the sport is not attracting new fans and young fans; a significant percentage of any racetrack crowd is eligible for Social Security.

The people that the sport wants to reach are the very people who are most likely to be surfing the Web and are apt to be intrigued by the mathematics involved in handicapping and betting. "People fluent in using computers tend to like mind games," observed Del Mar's Shepardson.

Some of them are apt to discover that handicapping the horses is the greatest mind game of all.