I see #11, #10, #9, #5, #4 and #2! (EVENT OF THE YEAR PHOTOS)

It’s getting to be that time of the year, the time for year end polls! Thoroughbred Times unveiled theirs today and it’s pretty good. Last week they asked for some feedback and ideas on Twitter and my suggestion became question 14!

But the three answers on the Thoroughbred Times poll aren’t the only fan friendly moves that took place this year. In fact, I would argue it was a great year to be racing fan. Plenty of talent racing? Check. Exciting and down right historical races? Yep. The industry remembering that owners and breeders are not their only customers? Indeed and a welcome trend it is.

In no particular order other than as they came to me, here’s what I came up with so far, let me know in the comments what else I’ve missed. There could even be more! I didn’t include Churchill’s night racing because of the complaints of the ticket price ($10). But, if you think it belongs in the poll let me know.

BC saddle cloth standardization
Some people didn’t like this while others gave it the big “eh”. This is actually my vote for most player friendly move. I know it helped me to be able to tell who was who both in the warm up and the races.

BC ticket prices
It’s always nice not to be gouged! This move received plenty of positive response in the form of “it’s about time” (the horseplayers version of positive feedback?). It seems to have worked since attendance was up 11%!

BC online ticket sales
It seems so simple yet so few do it, moving ticket sales online might have also helped with the attendance increase. Should I be filling out my Saratoga form yet? Where’s that pen?

CD/KEE/FG in HD
Several tracks started broadcasting their simulcast signals in HD this year and Allicansayiswow! Seriously, this game was meant to be broadcast in HD and not to harp on a point (stage whisper) all the other sports are doing it.

YouBet My ROI
If you don’t have a YouBet account you’re missing out on some serious metrics. With a single click you can determine your ROI by track, bet type, surface, race type, breed, distance, trainer and jockey/driver. I seriously hope this feature is rolled into TwinSpires. TwinSpiresTV + My ROI = perfection.

@BH_RaceResults
Oh ye of little Twitter faith are missing a handy Twitter stream provided by Bloodhorse that provides race results from what seems to be every track. Each result also links to a handy race result page on the Bloodhorse site that provides results, payouts, pedigree information and replays where available.

DRF’s Digitized Archive
The beginnings of the DRF’s outstanding digital archive was rolled out by the Keeneland Library this year. Obviously this is an incredible and important source available for all to use, for free… so feel free to donate while you’re whiling away the hours over there!

DRF Ticketmaker
Making tickets for multi-race exotics is a giant pain, but thanks to DRF you can now get a little help! I don’t get that fancy with the multi-race wagers but the few times I did it took freakin’ forever to make the tickets, and that time is better spent making actual handicapping decisions.

Equibase Scratches Today
We have our pals at HANA to thank for the next two entries. Through their hard work and perseverance on behalf of players everywhere, Equibase now provides real time scratches! Another one to file under “it’s about time”.

Bris/Equibase Free Historical Charts
And finally, some free data for the people! Sure one can quibble that Bris requires a credit card AND your social security number to open an account (and to add insult to injury the SS# is for forgotten password verification! feel free to use a fake SS# when registering, just write it down in case you forget your password! FAIL.). But back to the data, say it with me everyone… “it’s about time!”.

Three cheers and keep up the good work to all in the industry who have pushed for and succeeded in getting innovations and change on behalf of fans and players. THANK YOU!

In our last poll about Lava Man being back in training, the majority of you were cautiously optimistic and jazzed about stem cells. This poll started off in a dead heat. Up until about 16 votes in each category it could have gone to any of the answers. He still hasn’t raced so we’ll just continue to be cautiously optimistic and know that at the very least he’s probably more happy training than hanging out in the pasture.

As always, thanks!

Update - Late Entry!

TwinSpires Cancel Bet
I KNEW I was forgetting something! How many times have you wished you could cancel a bet? (and I’m not talking about after the race!) Of course, the first time I used this featured the bet I canceled ended up being the winning exacta, but that doesn’t mean the feature isn’t innovative and fan friendly!

Posted by dana on Nov 17 2009    
Filed Under: Impressive, 2009, Twitter, HANA, Industry, Poll, Fans, Lava Man, :), Internet, Racing

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(Sarah K. Andrew)

Much to the delight of this horseplayer, the Breeders’ Cup announced today that it’s finally adopting the standard saddle cloths! Anyone who’s read this blog for any length of time knows that this is an issue I’ve been whining about discussing for quite some time. So a hearty “Thank You” to Breeders’ Cup for listening to fan feedback and taking action!

The Breeders’ Cup made its decision to switch to the standard colored system following discussions with its Fan Advisory Council and with horseplayers across the U.S. and Canada and as part of the long-range planning being undertaken by the organization.

A big thanks also goes out to all who signed the Take Back the Race Petition last year. Because of the petition a few of us were lucky enough to be some of the horseplayers to meet with the Breeders’ Cup face to face to discuss many issues effecting fans.

Point 2 of the Take Back the Race Petition stated:

Create a fan committee representing the diversity of the racing audience to provide ideas and feedback on proposed changes and marketing plans to the Breeders’ Cup

The Fan Advisory Council, which they mention in the press release, is just that. I’m lucky enough to be a member along with Patrick of TBA/Handride, Ernie of TRNY, some HANA members and a wide cross section of fans and players. No doubt there are more changes that we’d all like to see, but the changes have started and there’s a mechanism for feedback and dialog.

It’s nice to have something to be cheerful about, especially in combination with some of the other recent unexpected good news. As Swifty is fond of saying, who deserves it more than us?

Posted by dana on Aug 11 2009    
Filed Under: Industry, 2009, HANA, Take Back the Race, :), Fans, Breeders' Cup, Sarah K. Andrew, Racing

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(superterrific)

The HANA Pool Party is back at Monmouth today! It’s the 7th race that goes off around 3:30pm ET, so you still have time to grab the free PP and get in on the action! Update, I had the winner at 11-1!

A few other notes of interest… there goes my Google traffic.

Not only did boozy 20 somethings enjoy Churchill’s historic foray in to night racing, the numbers show a notable increase in handle as well!

It was bona fide dance party at Belmont last night with Disco Diva in the 5th and Danceyoursocksoff in the 7th. In fact, Disco Diva over Gin Tango is quite possibly the best Friday night exacta ever!

Riderless horse Phone Jazz just crushed the field in the 5th at Belmont, good thing I had Hold the Cruiser, the official winner ($19.40) who finished about 3-4 lengths behind the riderless winner. Hopefully the game Phone Jazz was collected without incidence and the rider is ok.

And finally, it was nice to see Ocean Colors, the last foal out of 1988’s Santa Anita & Kentucky Derby winning Winning Colors put it together on turf at Churchill. For those of us who have been following her since Saratoga, it was great to see her show a little front running dazzle that her mother was so famous for.

Posted by dana on Jun 20 2009    
Filed Under: Riderless Horse, 2009, Twitter, HANA, Churchill Downs, Monmouth Park, Belmont, Chantal Sutherland, Turf, 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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