Good Sunday morning. You want to market harness racing? Blast
races 5-11 from last night's Meadowlands card into every email box in the nation! You'll get a million fans in the first hour alone.
Great races. Good drives. Fantastic finishes. Drama. Excitement. Controversy. You name it, I saw it last night. How about the late dash in the Graduate by Jug-winner Mr. Feelgood? How about our friend Harley D. Hanover's upset in the NJSS race? How about How about Corleone Kosmos in the Cutler? How about Total Truth and Southwind Lynx finishing 10th and 11th, respectively, in a race? Did you ever think you'd see that? Me neither.
Have a good rest of the day. I have an, um, appointment later, around 3:15p ET, at Tioga Downs, which I will be focusing upon. Will try to post later but don't hold me to it.
The Woodbine Entertainment Group
announced today that subscribers to Horse Players Interactive TV (HPItv) will be able to see a new replay show. Here is a portion of the press release as posted on the Standardbred Canada website: "Beginning early Monday morning HPItv will launch a new show called Reloaded – a program that will air race replays from the previous day. HPItv subscribers will now be able to view the replays from the five featured tracks consecutively and without pre-race commentary. The addition of Reloaded provides viewers with the ability to watch and record replays from tracks in which they are interested while omitting others."
So here is my question. Why aren't WEG and the Meadowlands and other race tracks NOT providing day-after online replays for free anyway, along WITH the pre-race commentary that often is interesting and insightful? In other words, if the video already exists, and the races already are run, why in the world shouldn't these tracks allow people-- no, make that encourage people-- to go online the next morning and check out the action they've missed?
There are dozens of casual harness fans in my life who I just know I could help hook into the sport if I could simply send them a link in the morning from time to time that would instantly bring them up a great race. No YouTube. No RaceReplay sign up. A simple link. The best way to market this sport is to show the sport and the best way to do that is to get races onto computers. So even if tracks aren't yet unanimous in their willingness and ability to stream races live-- don't get me started on that-- at a minimum they should be simply re-rackign the video from the night before and showing it again. Just like you can see Yankees and Rockies and Red Sox games the morning after....
Anyone going to disagree with me?
Here is the text of an email I received yesterday from Ivan Axelrod, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the United States Trotting Association:
"We have spent the past couple of months interviewing prospective members for our Marketing Advisory Committee and have now completed the selection process. We received many inquiries from individuals both within and outside our industry with an interest in becoming a part of our Committee. I believe we now have a committee of volunteers with strong backgrounds in many areas of marketing and advertising.
We are in the process of organizing our initial conference call to discuss our mission and I will be pleased to provide you and others within the industry as to our goals and objectives. This information will be forthcoming within the next two weeks. I appreciate your continued interest."
Andrew again: I have asked Ivan to tell me the names of the Committee members and will let you know when I get a response.
Here is a press release I received yesterday for a worthwhile cause, the restoration of priceless memorabilia from Roosevelt Raceway, one of the most important harness tracks in history. Check it out and then do your part in helping out, if you can.
Here is the release from the Harness Racing Museum: Goshen, NY– Historic Roosevelt Raceway, Long Island’s landmark entertainment venue, is the focus of a three phase project being conducted by the Harness Racing Museum & Hall of Fame. With the aid of two Museum Collection & Research Grants from the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA), a state agency, the museum has begun to record and digitize the more than 8,000 photographs, videos, programs and posters that were rescued from the raceway prior to its demolition in 2000.
Funding agencies can only provide half of the money that will be required to correctly and systematically record and digitize this significant collection, create a permanent exhibit at the museum worthy of the remarkable “Dream Track,” and provide for the publication of a comprehensive pictorial catalog of the collection and the people whose commitment made it all possible. Therefore, to support these plans a special fundraising effort is now being launched! Providing exciting donation incentives that include souvenir lapel pins, Roosevelt Raceway replica tote bags, and Founders’ Plates, it will be directed to those members of the harness racing community whose lives were touched by the Roosevelt years: the excitement, the crowds, and the great times. We urge all who remember this tremendously successful harness racing facility to support our efforts to keep these great memories alive.
Brochures inviting individual, corporate and organizational contributions are being mailed to the fans and the children of fans, employees, and horsemen and women of Roosevelt Raceway and members of the harness racing community nationwide and throughout the world. To receive a brochure or for additional information on supporting this major initiative, please contact the museum’s director at (845) 294-6330 or email hrmdir@frontiernet.net.
Visit the museum, just sixty miles north of New York City, and discover more about the fascinating history of harness racing and the Standardbred horse, as well as the museum’s educational programming and other services that support the sport. The museum, located at 240 Main Street in Goshen, NY is open daily 10 am-5 pm. (Last tour 4:00 p.m.) Admission, thanks to The United States Trotting Association, is without charge. Please call (845) 294-6330 for more information or visit the institution’s website at www.harnessmuseum.com.
So... which races do I need to watch this weekend? The Hempt? The OSS? The trotters at Harrah's Chester? The Empire Breeders Classic? What am I missing? I am going to give you, dear friends, an opportunity to schedule my race weekend. Give me your top five races you want to see this weekend. Lay it on me.
