Churchill Brings on SAP as an Official Signature Partner for Derby

Churchill Downs, Inc. (CDI) has entered a multi-year agreement naming SAP America, Inc. (SAP), a global market leader in enterprise application software, an official signature partner of Churchill Downs Racetrack, CDI said in a release Thursday. SAP is the first official technology partner of Churchill, as well as of the Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks. The agreement includes naming rights within Churchill and use of SAP technology solutions.

“We are thrilled to welcome SAP as a signature partner of Churchill Downs and the Kentucky Derby,” said Bill Mudd, President and Chief Operating Officer of CDI. “SAP is a tremendous global brand that supports our vision to innovate and fuel growth across our businesses. We are excited to have SAP join our iconic brand at the 150th running of the Kentucky Derby on the first Saturday in May.”

The partnership also includes naming rights for the SAP Starting Gate Suites and designation as the presenting partner of the Kentucky Derby and Churchill Downs mobile applications.

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The Racing Manager Garnering Interest in U.S.

Since it was first launched in 2017, The Racing Manager (TRM) has become a valuable tool in many yards across Europe. Today, almost 15% of horses in training in Ireland and the U.K., as well as a growing number in France, are registered on the online platform that is designed to enhance the racehorse ownership experience.

Last fall, TRM expanded to the United States and is already well on its way to having a nationwide influence.

“Without a doubt, our client base is growing and it's growing pretty fast,” said Andy Ash, the founder of TRM. “We've put a lot of effort and a lot of investment into it. We're not coming into the U.S. without some knowledge, but we're also very determined to do what the U.S. needs rather than saying the U.S. needs to be more like Australia or Europe because that will never work. The U.S. is its own unique place, but there are definitely things to be learned from each place.”

Ash was originally inspired to build a platform for improving owner-trainer communication when, as a first-time owner, he quickly became frustrated by the lack of sufficient updates about his horses in training. Upon launching TRM, he learned that he was not alone in this thinking. The company conducted surveys and found that 85% of owners were disappointed with the level or style of communication they received. At the same time, 85% of trainers replied to the survey saying that one of their greatest challenges was being time strapped. The core goal of TRM seeks to improve upon those two issues by helping trainers and racing managers increase the quality and quantity of communication to their owners in an straightforward, streamlined format.

Example of user's profile page | courtesy The Racing Manager

Now six years since its inception, the program has attracted seven of the top trainers in Ireland including Joseph O'Brien and Jessica Harrington.

Ash said that launching the tool has come with its challenges, citing that because many trainers do not have so much as a website to communicate with owners and potential owners, it has been difficult for them to realize the potential benefits of an online communication platform. But he explained that their team has found that the trainers who understand the necessity of good communication are the ones constantly seeking to improve and added that there is strong evidence to suggest that the best communicators are growing in horse and user numbers.

“At the end of the day, it comes down to competitive edge,” he explained. “Communication is not simply saying, 'We need to send a photo or a video.' It's a bit more complicated than that. Racing has to learn to invest in their ownership experience.”

On the Racing Manager platform, owners have an individualized profile feed that is unique to them and their horses. Trainers and racing managers have the ability to send photo and video updates, but they can also conduct polls, create photo galleries that others can add to, send messages to specific owners or syndicate groups and more.

Ash explained that many trainers will send out a weekly yard update and noted that trainers are able to sort their stable's profile to learn which horses have gone the longest without an update.

The Irish National Stud is another prominent TRM client. Ash said that the average Irish National Stud horse receives 175 updates per year.

While some of those updates require trainer engagement, most are produced automatically by TRM. Entries, workouts and race results appear on a user's feed, as do breeding updates (like if a horse's half-sibling is debuting) or a form alert (like if a horse that the user's horse ran second to in its last race won in its next start). All of these notifications are customizable for each user.

“We do all these things that are engaging the owner without the actual manager of the organization having to do anything,” Ash said. “Every user is different and every user can get a different assimilation. Everything the Racing Manager does, it has come from client advice.”

TRM is now working to cater toward an evolving racing landscape worldwide. The success of racing partnerships has grown to where a number of trainers in the U.K. focus exclusively on syndicates. Several of them rely on TRM to communicate with their members. In Australia especially, partnerships are changing the demographics of racing as they have made ownership more accessible to the younger generation.


“The need to encourage younger people into ownership can only be achieved by modern communication methods, especially the professional distribution and presentation of the communication,” said Ash. “If we can change the demographic, we're going to have a better future in ownership and in racing as a whole.”

Even still, Ash said they work to accommodate all demographics and technology skill levels, noting that their customer service department has gone so far as to help set up email accounts for some of their clients.

Just as the demographics of racing may be changing, the sport is becoming increasingly accessible on an international level for the average owner.  Ash said that TRM is becoming an important tool for owners and trainers communicating across oceans.

“We've started to see, out of our user base, that 20% of people are international compared to the country their horse is in,” he shared. “We have had Middle Eastern owners say to us that they would love to have more horses overseas, and specifically in the U.S., if they felt they would be communicated with.”

A growing number of trainers and racing partnerships in the U.S. are becoming interested in TRM. Taylor Made's Medallion Racing, Bradley Thoroughbreds and CJ Thoroughbreds are among the groups that have embraced the tool, while trainers who use the platform for their stable include Doug O'Neill and Norm Casse.

“We have quite a few pending,” Ash added. “We don't intend to rush it too much. We're confident that people will see others using it and realize they can communicate better too.”

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EquiTrace Technology on Display at Fasig-Tipton July

Buyers and sellers on site this week at Fasig-Tipton's Newtown Paddocks may have noticed signage for a fast-growing company called EquiTrace. Launched in 2019, the EquiTrace App not only identifies horses with the use of a microchip scanner, but also provides management and traceability solutions for horse farms and equine organizations.

Dr. Kevin Corley, a veterinary specialist in equine medicine and critical care, was one of the key founders of EquiTrace and said that the idea for the product stemmed from the industry's inefficiencies with identifying horses that have led to several high-profile mix-ups in recent years. As EquiTrace developed further, it expanded from not only an identification method, but also a management tool for farm managers, trainers and other equine-related organizations.

“As we launched EquiTrace, we started with the foundation of identification and then worked to address other issues including traceability, medication and what happens to a horse after racing,” Corley explained. “We've worked to build a system that provides real value to the people using it, but also has side benefits of helping the whole industry.”

EquiTrace was first launched in Europe and has been incorporated into many leading stud farms there, but it is now gaining traction in the U.S. and has been put to use at top farms in Kentucky, including Lane's End Farm. The product has already been used at Goffs Bloodstock Sales, but Fasig-Tipton is the first Thoroughbred auction house in the U.S. to partner with EquiTrace. At the Fasig-Tipton July Horses of All Ages and the Selected Yearlings Sales, all incoming horses were identified and checked in via the EquiTrace App.

Fasig-Tipton's Anna Seitz was the first member of Fasig-Tipton's team to learn about the product. She admitted that she had initial  reservations, but was eager to learn more as soon as she saw the app in action.

“I brought everyone in from Fasig-Tipton and showed it to them,” she said. “We all said that we had to get behind this right away because this is something that should have happened 10 years ago. It's cutting edge and it's a really positive thing for the industry. I truly believe that it's something we're all going to be using in the next couple of years. They've been an awesome company to work with and we're very happy to be partnering with them.”

“I think for Fasig-Tipton, it produces a system where they can 100% stand by it and make everything more efficient for checking horses in,” Corley added. “You've got a verifiable chain of how this horse was identified by this person at this time. It speeds up the process of making sure the right horse goes into the sales ring.”

The EquiTrace App works through the use of microchips, which are required by The Jockey Club for all registered Thoroughbred foals of 2017 and later. With the use of a scanner, the app quickly identifies the horse and pulls up its profile. From there, various pieces of information can be traced and recorded for that horse.

“We're trying to produce really useful tools to capture information that everyone needs to manage an efficient farm or training facility right at the sight of the horse,” Corley said. “Every time you scan the microchip, the app captures its GPS location. If you scan a horse when it comes off the van, you have a complete movement record for the horse. One of our clients was called about a foal and he just looked the horse up in the app and could tell the vet which barn to go to.”

Medical records can be maintained on each horse's page. EquiTrace recognizes over 1,000 products through the scan of the medication's barcode. Veterinarians and managers can enter the necessary treatment for a horse. As approved staff scans the horse, they will see the exact medication required along with its dosage and suggested withdrawal time. Users can choose the state jurisdictions they race under to adjust medication guidelines.

Reproductive records can also be traced through the app. Farm managers can maintain notes on each mare's profile as the mare is examined. That information is then easily accessible to other farm staff looking for up-to-date information on the horse.

While all of this data is accessible for horses with any type of microchip, further information can be tracked from horses with the Merck Animal Health Bio-Thermo Microchip, which contains a biosensor that measures a horse's body temperature.

“This is a really powerful tool because at just the stroke of a microchip scanner, people can get the temperature of their horse and the data is captured immediately onto the app,” Corley explained. “As an internal medicine specialist, that excites me because we're all facing a staffing shortage and it's really hard to take temperatures twice a day. With this system, it's very practical and there are no errors. One of our clients said they recorded 18 temperatures in a minute and 19 seconds.”

Looking ahead to the long-term benefits of EquiTrace, Corley said he believe expanded use within the industry will improve traceability of horses once they are retired from racing.

The approximate cost of the app is $2 per horse each month, with discounts available for farms with larger numbers.

“The idea is to give tools to the industry that help them at what is hopefully a price that everyone can afford,” Corley noted. “We've been delighted with the initial uptake in the States and we're working to continue to further that.”

To learn more about EquiTrace, click here.

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Horse Welfare And Anti-Doping Technology To Be Used At 2021 Breeders’ Cup

With the new Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) in place, racing industry leaders in the United Stares have continued to embrace sweeping reforms. One of the most recent changes will be the use of Kildare-based Equine MediRecord's (EMR) revolutionary anti-doping and horse welfare software at the Breeders' Cup World Championships at Del Mar.

The agreement is the latest notch in the belt of a company that launched its system just three years ago, but has already amassed an impressive list of clients including the Thoroughbred Owners of California, Irish Veterinary and Welfare Commission, Irish Harness Racing Association, Kentucky Thoroughbred Association and the Arabian Racing Organization. EMR first provided their system to the Breeders' Cup World Championships at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Ky., last year. With the event moving to California's Del Mar Racecourse and falling under the supervision of the California Horse Racing Board,  EMR has developed a new system to comply with this year's rules and regulations pertaining to equine welfare and anti-doping protocols.

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EMR sells and maintains a revolutionary software platform that allows for the full veterinary history of the horse to be recorded securely, ensuring the best possible horse welfare as well as aiding with crucial anti-doping procedures. The new system EMR has developed for the Breeders' Cup World Championships will automatically inform trainers from across the world of the safety and integrity regulations that need to be followed and what documents need to be submitted through the system to allow horses to run in the Breeders' Cup at Del Mar. The Breeders' Cup has been a leader in adopting and creating stringent regulations to ensure the welfare and safety of the human and equine athletes competing at its event.

EMR already boasts a number of endorsements from key stakeholders in the U.S., including the Executive Director of the California Horse Racing Board, Scott Chaney and Dr. William Farmer, the Equine Medical Director of Churchill Downs. “The Equine MediRecord system is a major breakthrough in providing the latest and most comprehensive medical and testing records for all participants in this year's World Championships,” said Dora Delgado, Breeders' Cup Executive Vice President and Chief Racing Officer, “We are proud to partner with EMR again for this year's Breeders' Cup World Championships at Del Mar.”

Once records are entered into the system, they cannot be altered, providing integrity and transparency for all concerned. With strict requirements in place for the competition at the Breeders' Cup, such a tool is needed to ensure the integrity of the records while also allowing them to be digitally submitted to regulators like the California Horse Racing Board and Breeders' Cup officials. This procedure also eliminates passing around paperwork to various partners who are following COVID-19 protocols.

Equine MediRecord CEO, Pierce Dargan said: “It was an amazing privilege to work with the Breeders' Cup for the first time last year and we are of course extremely happy to work with them for the World Championships at Del Mar this year. Given it is in a different regulatory jurisdiction this year, California instead of Kentucky, changes had to be made to ensure it complied with the state rules. We believe our system has a role to play in the movement to help ensure that our children will be able to enjoy horse racing the way we have for generations – to be a part of that work is an honor and highly rewarding.”

The Breeders' Cup has always been a leader when it comes to adopting best welfare and anti-doping protocols. With the sport and its integrity in the spotlight, the Irish innovation is sure to be adopted by more top racing organizations that are looking to ensure thevbest possible welfare and anti-doping practices for the horses in their care.

For more information, click here.

The post Horse Welfare And Anti-Doping Technology To Be Used At 2021 Breeders’ Cup appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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