Express Action Sports

This has to do with shutter speed. Most good digital have a manual setting that allows you to change you shutter speed.
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try the casio exilim EX-Z75 or its newer version,

Its very good at low light levels and takes a picture almost instantly.

If its bright, switch off the flash for a faster picture

The casio exilim is way faster than the pentax optio S7, so its not just the shutter speed settings. The casio has a much better (more sensitive) ccd.

Leaving the camera on auto (not manual) and taking good photos, shows how good the camera is – you shouldn’t need to fiddle to take a photo. (apart from the flash settings)

Try also switching off red eye reduction if you do flash, as this takes more time to take the photo.

Get one here – cheap too
http://www.google.co.uk/products?hl=en&q=exilim+ex-z75&um=1&ie=UTF-8
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You problem may have a lot to do with what is called shutter lag. All P&S cameras have lag to some extent or another.

http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/shutter-lag.htm

Those who shoot action or sports photography use DSLR cameras … their shutter lag is measured in milliseconds instead of seconds like P&S cameras are.
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Sports photographer

A good digital SLR can capture a shot as fast as a film SLR, when used right. There is a shutter lag problem with some consumer view cameras as well as with the digital DSLR cameras that use a TV like view system.
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The delay is the camera trying to focus before the picture is taken.

On your camera, press and hold the button down half-way BEFORE you want to take the picture to let it autofocus (it will probably beep or display something in the viewfinder to let you know it’s done) . When you want to take the picture, press the button down the rest of the way to take the picture instantly.

Or get a SLR camera. They don’t have lag.
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The issue is shutter lag or shutter delay, which is the difference between pushing the release and the picture being taken. With a point and shoot camera, this is because the camera must lock focus and exposure before taking the photo.

To a large extent, you can eliminate shutter lag by pre-pressing the shutter release half-way to lock focus and exposure. This works if you have something to focus on–like a rail the horse might be jumping over. If you pre-press and hold the release halfway, when you push it the rest of the way, the camera response should be much faster, nearly instantaneous.

Now, if your situations don’t allow you to pre-press the release, you will have to buy another camera and it will cost you. At a minimum, you’re looking at $500 for an entry level SLR like the Nikon D40 with a lens. If you want a lot of frames per second, Casio makes a point and shoot that does 60 fps and is instantaneous by design because it constantly captures images, but only begins saving when you hit the release. The Casio costs about $1000.

So–at the cheap end: learn to pre-press the release halfway to lock focus (essentially prefocusing the camera) to get a faster response or
Expect to spend $500 and up on a digital SLR like the Nikon D40 or Canon Rebel XT.
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Fhotoace et Anthony are right–shutter lag.

Sometimes I pre-focus, or even manual focus (and estimate the focusing)–just like the good old days with FM2 🙂 and there will hardly be any delay with today’s DSLRs.

That was one reason I would rather not go back to point and shoot. It took forever for the shutter to go off–and the subject has already left!
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