NEWS
NTRA ready for second take with Florida Derby webcast
Posted: Friday, March 19, 2010 11:02 AM
by Jeff Lowe
The National Thoroughbred Racing Association began a new Webcast platform on an ambitious note last week with live streaming of the New Orleans Ladies Stakes and Santa Margarita Invitational Handicap (G1) on March 13. Just like the comebacks for Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta, the Webcast results were mixed.
Demand was high enough to bring the NTRA Website “to its knees,” according to Senior Vice President of marketing Keith Chamblin, with only a small percentage of hopeful viewers able to watch the races.
“The demand, itself, was not unexpected—it was the inability of our site to handle that level of demand. That was where we had miscalculated,” NTRA President Alex Waldrop said on his blog at NTRA.com. “I was not a pleasant person to be around at 6 p.m. [EST] last Saturday—and for most of the three days thereafter, for that matter. Like many of you, I was disappointed that I didn't get to see the races like I was promised, but what made matters infinitely worse was that I felt we had let so many of our most passionate racing fans down.”
NTRA Live! will get a second take on Saturday with a Webcast of the Florida Derby (G1), and Waldrop said he has been assured that the site issues are resolved. He also insisted that a backup option be in place that would divert people to a separate site showing the Florida Derby feed if NTRA.com experiences more trouble.
“We’ve added some servers and done some additional testing of our new Website, to the point that we feel very confident that anybody who wants to be able to view the race this weekend will be able to see it,” Chamblin said.
The NTRA decided to offer Webcasts of some major races this year after ending the ESPN series that it has funded in past years of prep races leading up to the Triple Crown.
Randy Moss, an analyst on ESPN racing shows since 1999, hosts NTRA Live! from a studio in West Palm Beach, Florida, and the producer is Tim Turrell, who was involved with the NTRA series on ESPN last year. The shows are slated to last 30 to 35 minutes and include interviews with on-track reporters, either by phone or through Skype video. Eric Wing of the NTRA hosts an online chat that coincides with each Webcast.
The Sunland Derby (G3) on March 28 at Sunland Park in New Mexico and the Coolmore Lexington Stakes (G2) on April 17 at Keeneland Race Course are also scheduled for NTRA Live!, filling in some of the gaps on the Triple Crown prep schedule that are not part of the new “Road to the Kentucky Derby” series on NBC and its sister network, USA.
USA will carry the Louisiana Derby (G2) from Fair Grounds and Lane’s End Stakes (G2) from Turfway Park on March 27, and NBC will have the Santa Anita Derby (G1) and Wood Memorial Stakes (G1) on April 3 and Toyota Blue Grass Stakes (G1) and Arkansas Derby (G2) on April 10.
Chamblin said media rights issues limited the NTRA’s initial schedule.
“We’d be delighted to Webcast some races that are on broadcast television, but it boils down to a media rights issue involving the Internet streaming video rights and whether or not we can obtain those rights on a non-exclusive basis,” Chamblin said. “We’re certainly not looking for an exclusive, but we have to be able to obtain rights to be able to show these races live, even on the Internet, and that’s problematic with some of the races that are televised on broadcast television.”
Jeff Lowe is a Thoroughbred Times staff writer
