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Inaugural Big Data Derby Winner Announced

The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) and the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association (NYTHA) announced that a team led by Brendan Kumagai has been selected as the winner of the inaugural Big Data Derby competition, beating out 105 other submissions for first prize. Kumagai, together with Gurashish Bagga, Kimberly Kroetch, Tyrel Stokes, and Liam Welsh, took the $20,000 first prize with the submission, “Bayesian Velocity Models for Horse Race Simulation.”

Kumagai's team created a dynamic model that focused on horses' forward versus lateral speed and examined the results of sustained momentum and velocity within races. The team also studied jockey performance and how that would impact a horse's running style in addition to biometric data, leading to the possibility of calculating a horse's welfare and injury probability.

“We're honored to be named the winners of the inaugural Big Data Derby competition,” Kumagai said. “Our team primarily works in financial analytics and hockey statistics, so working with horse racing data has been a unique challenge which allowed us to apply our skills to a relatively new and unexplored domain.”

The Big Data Derby was launched with the goal of analyzing the vast amounts of data available to racing organizations, and to understand how the results of those studies could impact traditional methods of racing and training. The competition was sponsored NYRA and the NYTHA in partnership with the Kentucky Thoroughbred Association, Equibase, The Jockey Club, Breeders' Cup and the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association (TOBA).

Other models in the competition shed light on injury prevention, jockey decision making metrics, race tactics, track bias and more. Kumagai, a Data Science intern at Zelus Analytics, was previously part of a team that won the 2022 Big Data Bowl offered by the National Football League. The competition was judged by data analyst Rob Bingel, Rhodes College Economics Professor, horseplayer and thoroughbred owner Marshall Gramm, and Craig Milkowski of TimeformUS.

An open notebook of user-created content and data can be viewed at: https://www.kaggle.com/competitions/big-data-derby-2022/code.

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TAKE2 to Recognize Tbred Hunter, Jumper Divisions at USEF Shows

The TAKE2 Second Career Thoroughbred Program will recognize the results and count the points earned by TAKE2 Thoroughbred League members competing in the rated Thoroughbred Hunter and Thoroughbred Jumper Divisions at all USEF horse shows. This rule change will be retroactive to the beginning of the current TAKE2 season, which kicked off Aug. 29, 2022, and runs through Aug. 27, 2023.

“When we started TAKE2, we required the USEF-rated horse shows to complete an application to affiliate with our program,” TAKE2 Executive Director Andy Belfiore explained.

“Unfortunately, there were horse shows that offered the rated Thoroughbred Divisions but did not submit the application and as a result, we had League members who missed out on points. We felt it was in the best interest of our League members, and would best help us fulfill our mission of promoting second careers for retired racehorses, if we modified our rules, discontinuing the application requirement and expanding the TAKE2 network.”

Celebrating the 10th Anniversary in 2022, TAKE2 has grown from just a handful of horse shows in three states to more than 400 horse shows nationwide. The program was created by the late Rick Violette Jr., then president of the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association (NYTHA), in 2012 to put the spotlight on the success of Thoroughbreds in the show ring.

“Rick would be overwhelmed by the support TAKE2 has received not only from the racing industry, but also from the many Thoroughbred lovers in the sport horse world,” Belfiore said, adding, “We encourage horse shows to brand the rated Thoroughbred Divisions as TAKE2, so we can continue to raise awareness and create second career opportunities for retired racehorses.”

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Over 100 Submissions for Inaugural Big Data Derby

A total of 106 submissions were received for the inaugural Big Data Derby, a competition requiring entrants to provide a machine-learning model to analyze all manner of data regarding horse racing tactics, strategies and path efficiencies. Sponsored by the New York Racing Association and the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association in partnership with the Kentucky Thoroughbred Association, Equibase, The Jockey Club, Breeders' Cup and the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association, the Big Data Derby launched with a goal of better understanding the vast data set at hand to racing organizations, and to potentially develop new ways of racing and training in a highly traditional industry.

“Our main objective with this competition was to see if qualified data scientists could utilize horse-tracking data to improve the sport's collective knowledge in key areas such as equine welfare and performance,” said NYTHA President Joe Appelbaum.

The Big Data Derby offers a total of $50,000 in prize money with $20,000 awarded to the winner and $10,000 each to the next three placings. The competition is held on Kaggle, a global data science platform with over 500,000 active users where participants compete by using machine learning to solve problems ranging from the trivial to the extremely complex.

A judging committee will score the submissions based on four categories–Innovation [25 points], Relevance [30 points], Competence [25 points] and Presentation [20 points]. Winners will be announced in early December. For more information, click here.

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NYTHA Hires Marie Kizenko as Communications Manager

Marie Kizenko has joined the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association team as communications manager. A racing industry veteran, Kizenko served as a senior editor for 14 years at the Thoroughbred Daily News before working as a freelance writer and communications consultant. She returned to racing on a full-time basis in 2019 and most recently served as stakes coordinator for the Maryland Jockey Club.

“This is a fascinating time for the racing industry in New York,” Kizenko said. “NYTHA's core missions of benevolence, equine welfare, and safeguarding the interests of its members are vital to me. I have been involved in many facets of racing, and am thrilled to have this opportunity to ensure its future growth.”

“We are very excited to have Marie join us here at NYTHA,” NYTHA President Joe Appelbaum said. “Her industry knowledge is well-rounded, and she is able to offer a unique perspective as someone who has worked in journalism and publicity as well as a racing office.”

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