What’s This?
About the Site
One of the first thoroughbred horse racing blogs on the scene, Railbird launched in June 2004 with a focus on Suffolk Downs and New England racing business and politics and then expanded to cover New York racing and industry issues. In August 2008, Daily Racing Form publisher Steven Crist cited Railbird as among the sites providing “the most interesting racing journalism … being practiced anywhere.” In March 2009, after more than four years of in-depth, ongoing blogging about the game, Railbird was re-launched as v2, a broader collection of notes and links on racing, media, and technology. Said New York Times turf writer Joe Drape of the freshened site, “If it’s not already … Railbird should be a daily stop.”
About the Writer
Jessica Chapel is a writer, editor, and web producer living in Cambridge, MA, who has worked for such publications as the Daily Racing Form, Atlantic Monthly, and American Prospect. For nearly seven years, she was books editor of Flak; for two summers, she was a hotwalker at Suffolk Downs and Saratoga. Jessica is the founder of Raceday 360, an experiment in aggregating horse racing media, and the developer of Breeders’ Cup 360, the official handicappers’ site of the Breeders’ Cup; she is also writing a book about great American racehorses, to be published by Westholme, a contributing editor to Hello Race Fans!, and a contributor to The New York Times Rail Blog. A member of the NTRA Online Task Force, Jessica occasionally speaks about online media and digital strategies at conferences and elsewhere. She has been interviewed by Bloomberg TV, the New York Times, Newsday, and more for stories on the business, history, and thrills of horse racing.
Contact
Emails are always welcome. Please write to railbird [at] jessicachapel [dot] com.
Copyright
All materials on this site are copyright © 2000-2010 by Jessica Chapel unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved.
