Finally, it appears that electronically determined fractions for each horse in a race is going to be a reality in North America. A long time in coming but better late than never. http://sports.excite.com/news/09272004/v5420.html
Here\'s an 2003 article on the Turf Trax gizmo...note it supposedly can determine the actual distance raced by each horse in a race.
http://sport.guardian.co.uk/horseracing/story/0,10149,908222,00.html?101%3A+Sport+news
http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2004/09/28/loc_loc2racing.html
more info, suppesedly this will also give accurate path information.