Noted: January 26
– Andrew Beyer has seen the future of racing. So has Bob Roberts: “It’s my couch, my debit card, a laptop computer, and two pari-mutuel networks bounced off the satellite dish atop my garage and onto the screen of my television set.”
Both Beyer and Roberts are right that racing’s future is online, but I can’t help but to point out that some of the sites they praise, like Youbet.com, are unusable for Mac OS visitors. Youbet doesn’t even let Mac users get past the first page without throwing up an error message. And while the solution could be that Mac users just have to buy a PC and chalk up the expense as a necessary one to fully enjoy racing online, it really shouldn’t have to be that way — I can think of no other multimedia content or security-conscious financial services site that shows the same disregard for potential users. In some corners of the racing industry, though, customer service and making your product accessible just don’t matter.
Tote Board Brad isn’t ready to concede the future yet: “The track offers real value to me in a few ways.”
– A thoroughbred named for the Boston Red Sox 2004 World Series victory is set to make his career debut at Gulfstream Park in the next couple of weeks. Curse Reversed, a son of Grand Slam, was purchased by Boston-based racing outfit Centennial Farms for $180,000 at the 2003 Keeneland September yearling sale and is trained by Jimmy Jerkens. He probably won’t be the only horse with a Red Sox-inspired name to hit the track this year either: The Jockey Club reported in November 2004 a flurry of such names registered, including Red Sox Parade, Sweep the Series, and Bambino’s Curse.
– Maryland racing is suffering this winter. Short fields caused by the quarantine at Pimlico and restrictions on shippers into the track have made Laurel a bleak place to be these days. At Pimlico, a third horse was killed by the equine herpes virus this week.
Now Playing on iPods
And on Google: Sports videos.
Sports Business Journal has two interesting articles on its front page this week about various sports leagues rushing into the new and very profitable online and iPod video market. The NBA has signed with Google to offer full-length, downloadable videos of every game this season, as well as some archival games, through its new video store. ESPN and ABC Sports are selling videos from Bowl games and ESPN programming through iTunes, which is also set to start distributing NHL and NASCAR video content. The NFL has no deal with either yet, but is in discussions.
Needless to say, there’s no mention of the NTRA or any other racing entity in either of the articles, which is a real shame. Imagine — the Breeders’ Cup or the Kentucky Derby on an iPod. Great races from years past on a laptop. Daily or weekly highlight shows from Del Mar or Saratoga wherever you go. The videos could be a promotional tool and a revenue stream. A new outlet for a sport that’s being squeezed out of others. Just the kind of thing “a new generation of fans familiar with electronic technology [need to see] in their face every time they log onto the Internet.”
From the archives: 21st Century Racing Fans
Of Podcasts & Web Sites
It’s rare that anyone in the racing industry does anything online that I think warrants much praise. More often, racing’s approach to the Internet seems to be of the frustrating two steps backward-one step forward variety (see Equibase and its change to PDF-only race chart delivery). But a recent news item deserves glowing mention: Churchill Downs announced last week that they would begin offering podcasts and videocasts on their members-only Twin Spires Club site. Fans can now get barn notes, handicapping talk, interviews with horsemen, etc. so long as they’re signed up for a free Twin Spires membership. Props to Churchill for trying out these emerging media; may other tracks and the NTRA pay attention and perhaps even pick up on the idea. Podcasts, videocasts, and blogs are exactly the kinds of things the sport needs to incorporate into its efforts to keep existing fans engaged and create new ones (particularly among the young and tech-savvy).
Somewhat related: Shortly after Ashado sold at the Keeneland November sale for $9 million to Sheik Mohammed, Maryjean Wall reported in a column that consignor Taylor Made had marketed the mare with a swanky leather-bound album to 45 potential bidders. This is a great example of how well one corner of the racing industry reaches out to a defined, select audience.
What almost nobody seems to do nearly so well is reach out to the masses, which is why this article about owner Rick Porter and his successful RockportHarbor.com web site so delighted me. Porter started the site last year to showcase his then-promising two-year-old colt. When Rockport was sidelined early in his three-year-old campaign with a nagging foot injury, Porter realized he could also use the site to keep fans up-to-date on the rest of his stable. And it’s worked. Porter and his trainer, John Servis, now have a devoted fan base that congregates on the site’s discussion forum, turns out for barn tours, and cheers on all of Fox Hill Farm’s starters. All of which suggests that there are a lot of fans out there who aren’t necessarily hardcore horseplayers, eagerly seeking to connect to the sport in a more casual, fun, and personal way. Porter’s managed to tap that — the question is, when will the rest of the industry figure out how to apply its marketing know-how in a similar way on a larger scale and get more of these people involved before the sport slips into even further irrelevancy?
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Jessica Chapel writes and edits in Massachusetts. Railbird is a Thoroughbred horse racing blog published from June 2004 to July 2019. More / Contact
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