Archives > Racing & Technology

It's a Start: NTRA president Alex Waldrop launches a blog....; [Posted April 10, 2008 04:45 PM]; ---

Lucky Hockey Fans: And no, I'm not talking about Teresa getting a sweaty blue shirt, as fun as that sounded. Earlier this week PaidContent reported that the NHL is expanding its online presence with a video player that offers seven channels (more to come as each of the league's teams add content) and deep archives: The new channels, organized around themes, give the league a way to pull its digital content into linear viewing instead of piecemeal. At the same time, users have flexibility to pick clips and to go deep. For instance, click "more" under the results of a game in the...; [Posted April 10, 2008 11:45 AM]; ---

Here Comes Everybody: Well, this is interesting: On Left at the Gate yesterday, Alan posted a conversation he had on Saturday at Aqueduct with Breeders' Cup media contact Jim Gluckson about the BC changes announced earlier this year. According to Gluckson, BC officials were taken aback by the ferocity of the criticism and charges of sexism from bloggers, racing forums, and prominent columnists that greeted the news. Changing the name of the Breeders' Cup Distaff to Ladies' Classic was a mistake, albeit well-intentioned, said Gluckson, and going with Filly and Mare Classic might have been a better choice. Hardly scandalous stuff, but you...; [Posted April 8, 2008 05:05 PM]; ---

This Includes Racing: "We are plainly witnessing a restructuring of the media businesses, but their suffering isn't unique, it's prophetic. All businesses are media businesses, because whatever else they do, all businesses rely on the managing of information... The increase in the power of both individuals and groups, outside traditional organizational structures is unprecedented. Many institutions we rely on today will not survive this change without significant alteration, and the more an institution or industry relies on information as its core product, the greater and more complete the change will be." -- Clay Shirky, "Here Comes Everybody" --- "People take information and build...; [Posted April 4, 2008 08:50 AM]; ---

Now Playing on Hulu: TVG. The racing network has launched a broadband division and uploaded a selection of evergreen trainer and jockey profiles and handicapping clips to the favorably-reviewed video site, which attracted a bit of buzz at SXSW when it was announced Monday that the site would come out of private beta this week. You might be thinking this is no big deal, but Hulu is no YouTube. Content isn't user-generated, it's original programming from NBC Universal and a raft of other providers -- including the NHL, NBA, and Fox -- and despite some shortcomings -- such as no downloads or international access...; [Posted March 13, 2008 05:00 PM]; ---

What Racing Needs ...: More geeks, more technologists, more people thinking deeply and creatively about points as diverse as PHP vs. Ruby, IPTV, experience design, usability, prediction markets, social networks, mashups, content distribution. Racing needs a start-up culture....; [Posted March 4, 2008 12:00 PM]; ---

Moneytrack: I just finished reading "Moneyball," by Michael Lewis, the surprisingly engrossing story of how the Oakland A's used statistical data to build a winning team. Like a lot of other racing fans, I have an overlapping interest in baseball stats, and I find it fascinating to follow another sport also afflicted with a sclerotic power structure, dominated by people who believe they know everything about their fans and how to put on the show or market their data. The result, a collective failure of imagination leading to a management culture more interested in brand caretaking than innovation, opens up intriguing...; [Posted November 15, 2007 08:00 AM]; ---

Tuesday Odds and Ends: - California pushes the ADW mess toward a solution, beginning an eight-month experiment that splits broadcast and wagering rights. So, video remains exclusive, but horseplayers can wager on any track through any online wagering service in the state (Blood-Horse). - From ESPN Sports Poll: "The number of people in the U.S. ages 18+ who said they are interested in horse racing increased for an unmatched fifth consecutive year." - It was sad to see Lava Man finish sixth in the California Cup Classic against a field he would have demolished last year (LA Times); it was also sad to see...; [Posted November 6, 2007 08:00 AM]; ---

DC Ban Traces to Oregon: The abrupt ADW closures that shut out DC horseplayers last weekend were the result of a state criminal code review by the Oregon Racing Commission, reports John Scheinman in today's Washington Post: Commission officials recently reviewed state criminal codes and discovered it is illegal to accept or place bets on horse races within the District. As the regulator of a multi-jurisdictional "hub" for interstate horse racing bets made online, the commission advised advanced deposit wagering companies (ADWs) they were at risk of breaking the law. The Oregon Racing Comission regulates the hub through which most US-based online wagering is routed....; [Posted October 5, 2007 11:30 AM]; ---

Failure Happens: Nothing to do with racing, but I'm fascinated by the story of last Tuesday's massive power outage at a San Francisco data center that wiped out Typepad, Technorati, Yelp, Craigslist, and a bunch of other Web 2.0 sites for several hours. Turns out, the impossible happened: In this incident, latent defects caused three generators to fail during start-up. No customers were affected until a fourth generator failed 30 seconds later, which overloaded the surviving backup system and caused power failures to 3 of 8 customer areas. What's most interesting is that the redundant design of the system is what caused...; [Posted July 28, 2007 10:55 AM]; ---

TrackNet, Arch-Rivals to Share: Don't get too excited, it's a one-day deal: TrackNet announced today that it would share the August 4 Claiming Crown at Ellis Park with Youbet and TVG (Blood-Horse). All three ADWs will donate fees generated by Claiming Crown wagers back to the Claiming Crown organization (ThoroTimes)....; [Posted July 24, 2007 09:00 PM]; ---

All Quiet Re: Ellis Pick 4: John Pricci wonders why silence has greeted Ellis Park's decision to lower takeout to 4% on its pick four wager: I'm no math genius, far from it. But a wager that puts the odds in our favor over the long term, one where track executives and horsemen and legislators from the Commonwealth of Kentucky came together and took a risk for our gain and, ultimately, theirs? This is a very big deal, and nobody seems to care. Reaction, any reaction, yeah or nay, was anticipated. It would have been a welcome start to meaningful dialogue between racing's considerable uncounted majority...; [Posted July 10, 2007 06:00 PM]; ---

Bet Needs a Payoff: Andrew Beyer on the TrackNet/TVG/ADW mess: Churchill, Magna and TVG are pursuing a course of action all too familiar in the racing industry: forgetting about their bettors as they look after their own interests. This time, the industry has angered and alienated many of its dwindling number of customers, who want to make their own free choices about what they can bet and where they can bet....; [Posted June 29, 2007 09:00 PM]; ---

CDI Buys BRIS, AmericaTab: Big news out of Kentucky this morning: Churchill Downs Incorporated has bought BRIS and AmericaTab. 6/29/07 Update: "Evans said establishment of twinspires.com and the subsequent acquisition of three Internet wagering companies gives CDI 20% of the Internet wagering market, the fastest growing segment of horse race wagering. Noting that wagering on Thoroughbred racing has been flat for the past decade, Evans said the challenge for CDI is to increase its market share" (Blood-Horse)....; [Posted June 12, 2007 10:00 AM]; ---

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