Go Racing with Hawke-Eye

In another international first for racing in NSW, Senior Stipendiary Steward Steve Railton says, “the Stewards Control Room provides us with another layer of scrutiny and integrity oversight.”

Sitting in front of a bank of video screens located in the Heritage Centre at Royal Randwick in Sydney, today Steve Railton is focused on the Dubbo Showcase Day some 400km away.

“From the Control Room I’m able to interact with the two officiating Stipendiary Stewards at Dubbo, and I can participate in the supervision of the meeting as if I were sitting by their side.”

“I’m also able to render assistance by compiling the Stewards Report while ultimately, it’s the Chief Steward at the meeting who signs-off.”

“In working closely as a back-up to the on-course Stipendiary Stewards, it gives them time to perform the necessary hands-on duties of track inspections, allocating pre and post-race swabbing.”

“In also arranging veterinary examinations, it’s also generally dealing with a raft of issues with stakeholders including raceday officials, jockeys, trainers, owners and bookmakers.”

“Today at Dubbo there are four Hawke-Eye cameras located at strategic points around the track, offering multi-angle race views with the Chief Steward being positioned near the finish.”

“Following each race, the remote Steward is able to independently view aspects of the race to compliment the supervision provided by the attending Stewards.”

“The second officiating steward is viewing the Hawke-Eye screens in the Dubbo Stewards Room, scrutinising the race in general, identifying any interference, potential protests, and is relying on the head-on to the straight vision for any whip infringements.”

“This function doesn’t take away from or usurp the powers of the attending Stewards, but rather adds another layer of race stewardship that can greatly enhance the integrity oversight of the day’s racing.”

Implemented by Racing NSW in early 2025, the Stewards Control Room Hawke-Eye system is a world first, with the Korean Racing Authority having subsequently introduced a similar version.

Known by all cricket and tennis buffs, the Sony-owned Hawke-Eye cameras were first used at the Kremlin Cup tennis tournament in 2012 having been developed by Paul Hawkins.

Now used in more than 20 major sports, the Hawke-Eye computer vision system was originally used for cricket with up to ten high-performance cameras positioned under the stadium roof.

Having relinquished the Racing NSW Chairman of Stewards role in June 2025, Steve has remained on the panel to lend his 46 years of experience in Queensland, NSW and Hong Kong in the supervision of racing and to mentor younger panel members.

The supervision of Trainee Cadet Stewards is one of his key roles and he officiates regularly from the Stewards Control Room to assist in the conduct of selected country race meetings.

“While Racing NSW is fortunate to have many experienced and dedicated Stewards across the state,” said Steve, “I do find it particularly rewarding to offer any assistance or guidance I can to the younger Stewards who are the future of racing control in New South Wales.”

“The introduction of the Stewards Control Room has been received extremely positively by all concerned and represents a notable advancement in racing control.”

And partnering Steve Railton in the Randwick Control Room is ‘Randwick boy’ Scott Matthews, who commenced his career in 1990 as a Cadet Steward with the Australian Jockey Club at Randwick.

In a 26-year career in Australia, Singapore and Malaysia, Scott was also Senior Steward and Racing Advisor in Korea, presented on jockey mouth guards at the 2018 Seoul Asian Racing Conference, and was Master of Apprentices in Macau.

And there’s no bypassing the fact that 40-year-old Tom Moxon stepped into the succeeding role of Steve Railton, who remains on the panel, following in the footsteps of Ray Murrihy and Marc Van Gestel.

After 12 months as a race day steward in Tamworth before joining the Sydney panel as a cadet under Ray Murrihy, Moxon then spent nine months in Dubbo and 18 months in Wagga Wagga.