There I was minding my business on Saturday afternoon with the NYC OTB channel on, volume down, laptop in hand, in the middle of some excellent puttering… reading tweets about entrants from various tracks, looking at Raceday360 Wire and possibly even sending email.

As I glanced up to see how many minutes to post at Belmont (for a 3 horse race) I noticed the DRF Formulator ad that reminds us that they were kind enough to make Formulator easy enough for us women folk to use. As I blankly stared at the TV I noticed something different, that the text on the noted frame had change, and that the word “expert” seemed to be included.

After thinking that maybe I had imagined it, I used the magic of digital television to go back and verify that indeed they had changed that frame! No longer did it read “for every skill level“, it now read “for beginner and expert handicappers!”, although the voice over had not changed. No doubt it was much easier to change the text than the audio.

Well how about that? One can only assume that some kind soul forwarded along this link to point out their inadvertent inference. Hats off to the fine fellows at DRF for making that change!

Posted by dana on May 31 2009    
Filed Under: :), Industry, 2009, Daily Racing Form, TV, Ads, Marketing, Racing

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(ronkokokan)

This week’s HANA Pool Party is the Aristides Stakes, race 10 at Churchill today. While it probably seems counter-intuitive to the original mission of showing a bump in the pool, HANA decided to go for wider exposure to the mission in hopes of bringing more players out next time.

From the Pool Party Yahoo group (that you should join!):

We need to build momentum and get people used to playing with us every single week, every single week — and continuously attract more people that are going to play every single week.

So, get on over to HANA and check out the free handicapping material while you’ve still got about an hour and a half (5:29 ET).

Good luck!

Posted by dana on May 30 2009    
Filed Under: Industry, 2009, HANA, Internet, Churchill Downs, Wagering, Handicapping, You Can Help, Racing

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Your ad here! (jk+too)

You may have noticed over the past week that there’s a new ad space over there on the right. Not only here at GbG but on several sites. The little tag hanging there below the ad says “HRF Ad Network”. What?

The Hello Race Fans Ad Network is one of two projects Swifty and I have been working on for the better part of a year. After seeing my traffic go up basically every month since I’ve started blogging and noticing that there are new independent blogs and sites continually popping up, we thought it was a good idea to bring as many of them together as possible to 1) create an excellent new opportunity for advertisers to easily reach racing fans and 2) give everyone in the network a stronger bargaining position as we’re more attractive to advertisers as a group than individually.

I’m happy to say that so far it seems to be working! We were lucky enough to get two outstanding charter advertisers, West Point Thoroughbreds and the Breeders’ Cup. Rock out!

Please visit our sponsors by clicking on their banners when you see them on our sites. As individual publishers in the network we don’t get paid any more for you clicking on the ad but it’s a great way to reward those organizations that were willing to take a chance on a new small company AND support independent content creators.

And now a word about our sponsors…

West Point has been an undisputed leader in bringing the ownership experience to an increasingly wider audience. They consistently campaign some of the most exciting horses in training and are always finding ways to support the industry. Their FATE Initiative asks that all of us to try to introduce new folks to racing, a technique that Swifty actually employed on me (so you know it works!). We’re pleased to have West Point continue to lead the way by signing on with us as an advertiser… when you see a West Point ad over there in the HRF ad spot, click on over and check out their current offerings or check out what founder and President Terry Finley is blogging about in his weekly Terry’s Notes.

You asked and Breeders’ Cup listened… not only did they address their ticket prices and structure to be more flexible and affordable, they’re now selling their tickets online! That’s the kind of progress this industry needs and we’re thrilled that they chose the Hello Race Fans Ad Network to promote this new initiative! Seeing an organization like the Breeders’ Cup roll out a new online initiative by advertising it in a new online venue is a great sign that progress is possible in horse racing. If you’re planning on going to the Breeders’ Cup, and you know you are, click on over via the banner and get your seats!

We’ve also donated ad space to 501(c)(3)s such as ReRun, Old Friends, Remember Me Rescue, GEVA and Another Chance 4 Horses as we wanted to make it that much easier for someone to find out about these great organizations. We also promote the weekly HANA Pool Party! If you’re associated with a racing 501(c)(3) charity, please contact us at our network site to find out more information about how to get a free ad in our rotation!

If you have a site about thoroughbred or harness racing and you’re interested in running ads, come on over and sign up! And your site doesn’t need to be a blog either. However, if your site is a blog hosted at wordpress.com, you currently can’t run any ads but hopefully wordpress will change that soon.

The other project Swifty and I have been working on is creating a fan education site, also called Hello Race Fans. We think that fans and players can learn as much from each other as they can from experts. I know I’m constantly learning every time I read how someone decided to play a race or by how they interpreted how a race would set up. With this in mind we’ve assembled some great folks, some of whom you already read, to create a site to make it easier for potential new fans to learn about racing. Stay tuned, we plan on having an initial launch prior to the Breeders’ Cup!

Posted by dana on May 27 2009    
Filed Under: Internet, 2009, HANA, West Point Thoroughbreds, Marketing, Breeders' Cup, Ads, Racing

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Zenyatta, all alone out there in California (Charles Pravata)

I’d hardly call Zenyatta’s plans “defending her title”, more like maintaining her undefeated record… although I’m sure those among you who also agree that there’s no reason to challenge her will be pleased as punch with the news of her “conservative plans“.

Zenyatta is likely to have a conventional campaign of major stakes in California through the summer and fall in defense of her title as the nation’s outstanding older female.

Some immediate feedback from twitter resonated with my reaction:

I don’t really understand bringing a mare like that back another year to win THE SAME EXACT RACES.

To me this is the equivalent of driving your Ferrari around the cul-de-sac, and what happens if Rachel Alexandra goes to the Classic? Will they stay in the Distaff division or respond to at least one challenge?

I LOVE Zenyatta… LOVE. But I seriously hope they take her out of the cul-de-sac at least once. There’s always hope that maybe they’re just playing coy… fingers crossed on that one! That or it’s going to be a long boring year of Zenyatta beating Life is Sweet over and over again until the fall.

Posted by dana on May 25 2009    
Filed Under: 2009, Zenyatta, Charles Pravata, John Shirreffs, Racing

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Zenyatta after winning the Breeders’ Cup (Aint No Joke)

Having just watched Zenyatta remain perfect at 10-10 in her 5yo debut in the Milady, I’m sure I’m not the only one asking themselves “Zenyatta or Rachel Alexandra?”.

Are they our Personal Ensign and Winning Colors? Will their first meeting be in the Breeders’ Cup or will some track smartly try to draw a very marketable match-up, like say in the Jockey Club or Beldame or Mass Cap?

One thing’s for sure, whenever and wherever this match-up occurs, you really don’t want to miss it.

Zenyatta in the Milady:

Rachel in the Preakness:

In our last poll, GbG readers proved to be on the ball by overwhelmingly thinking that Mine That Bird’s chances in the Preakness were better than he was getting credit for. Although 4 of the 53 votes came after the Preakness. 18 of you thought he had no chance while 17 of you thought his chances where decent on an off track. Perhaps the smartest of all were the 6 brave souls who said they thought he was Triple Crown material… time will tell.

Posted by dana on May 23 2009    
Filed Under: Zenyatta, Impressive, 2009, Rachel Alexandra, Rivalry, Poll, Fans, Race Replay, YouTube, Racing

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