SportHorse racingJames OwenDavid Hicks took nearly five minutes to determine the outcome of a handicap shown on ITV before identifying the winner which many thought was too close to call13:44, 17 Jul 2026The BHA judge involved in a photo-finish controversy at Newmarket says punters can trust the process. David Hicks, team principal for judges and clerks of scales on the racecourse, took nearly five minutes to call the winner of a £100,000 handicap which was being shown live on ITV on July 4.‌Mythical Bay and Magnetude had crossed the line locked together with many believing it could be a dead-heat. After wildly fluctuating betting on the outcome, Hicks finally declared Mythical Bay the winner by a nose, or the width of a pixel on the image.‌James Owen, trainer of the runner-up, weighed up lodging an appeal against the decision until a viewing of the judge's image satisfied him the right result had been reached.‌The BHA also quickly ruled out any unusual betting patterns in the photo-finish market.Since March this year new camera technology has enabled judges to determine the finishing order down to the finest of margins."Our previous cameras worked at a lower resolution but our process for assessing the evidence was essentially the same in that if we couldn't see a margin, we would declare a dead heat," Hicks told Mirror Racing.‌"Now we've got higher resulution images, better contrast, better colour definition so if the evidence is there we will split them, if not we won't."The images are published on the BHA website with the results, yet there were still questions raised on social media about the Newmarket race and another tight finish days later at Wolverhampton.Article continues belowHicks continued: "The judge needs to be able to see the evidence and be able to show that evidence on the equipment we have. The newest technology has presented a slight challenge in that we are having to evolve the way we display those pictures."They will always be on the BHA website but sometimes what's displayed on the big screen on the racecourse is not as clear as the high resolution image we are looking at. So we will be uploading images which are zoomed in as far as necessary to show the gap."A lot of the inquiries we get are generally motivated by financial loss. I would be confident the decision-making process is robust and correct."Choose Daily Mirror as a 'Preferred Source' on Google News for quick access to the news you value.‌ITVBritish Horseracing AuthorityJames OwenNewmarket racecourses