FOX Sports' award-winning horse racing coverage has continued to grow in the last several years while centered around the venues of the New York Racing Association. However, with the announcement this spring that FanDuel TV would begin to wind down its day-to-day racing coverage, an opportunity opened for FOX and NYRA to expand their coverage.
The "America's Day at the Races" and "Saratoga Live" shows had already expanded to include tracks like Oaklawn Park, Monmouth Park, and others, but this summer they have also looped in smaller tracks like Prairie Meadows on Iowa Derby day and have even dived into Standardbred and Quarter Horse racing.
The goal is to not completely reproduce the number of tracks that FanDuel TV would show on a daily basis, but to pick out premium racing events that offer compelling stories for viewers that will pair alongside coverage of Saratoga Race Course and Belmont Park.
"Early on, FOX came on and said they wanted to do more from a horse racing standpoint, and the decision was made to try and figure out what's the right amount of content outside of NYRA content that would be good to broadcast on the FOX family of networks," NYRA chief revenue officer and NYRA Bets president Tony Allevato said. "When you go to FS1 or FS2, you should expect to find the best horse racing content that's out there. We've been experimenting with different partners and trying to see what sticks and what resonates with the audience. We've gotten a pretty good response so far."
Allevato says several tracks have reached out about availability for coverage, and NYRA has been able to work out a deal with some. One of the more unique offerings recently was the grand opening of the new Sandy Ridge Racetrack in Ashland, Ky.
The track was developed by Revolutionary Racing Kentucky, and they, along with the Kentucky Quarter Horse Racing Association, were thinking of ways to advertise the track and grow interest in the Kentucky Quarter Horse breeding program. With more than a decade of no Quarter Horse racing in Kentucky until Sandy Ridge's development got underway, money accumulated untouched in the breeders' fund from state taxes on historical horse racing machines. They were able to utilize some of that money to pay for the spot on "Saratoga Live" on its opening- and closing-day cards to help advertise the new facility and promote the state's Quarter Horse industry.
"We were kicking around ideas trying to figure out how to make more of a name and make more of a splash," KQHRA executive director Adam Koenig said. "(Revolutionary Racing Kentucky chairman) Larry Lucas has a relationship with the folks at NYRA and we settled on if they could put us on for a price that we deem reasonable, then let's explore that. He did, and we came to an agreement. We were very excited to be on there, and we saw from the handle numbers that being on FOX Sports matters."
The publicity was huge for the exposure of Quarter Horse racing to a wider national audience, and Koenig is hopeful it will help establish a stronger program for the breed in Kentucky.
"I think it was a good long-term investment for us. It's not like we were on just some day; we were on with Saratoga. That made it more appealing," Koenig said. "We thought it was a good way to help move (Kentucky-bred Quarter Horse registrations) along quicker, that we get more Kentucky-bred Quarter Horse races. We look forward to having a critical mass hopefully in two, three years so we can start running some lucrative state-bred races."
The programming was also beneficial for the FOX and NYRA teams as they were able to do a deeper dive with on-site talent, interviews with industry participants and the KQHRA, and produce a new, compelling story for their viewers.
"We thought it was a great story, giving them an opportunity to introduce that racetrack in that part of the country to people that maybe have never been to that part of Kentucky or experienced Quarter Horse racing," Allevato said. "It was a unique opportunity to showcase that. We worked really closely with the Lucas family and we were happy with the way it turned out.
"FOX's approach is that we want to be able to showcase the best content that's out there and also tell those stories of all the people and horses that are in those races; put together the best production possible."
